Larka's Journey
by WolfOfLight14
Summary: After leaving her home pack Larka has finally found some friends and together they will begin a great journey.  I suck at summaries, it's like the amime but it also has my character and a few twists. My first story so please be nice. I only own Larka!
1. City of howls

I wandered aimlessly through the city. I knew I would not be able to get into the building where the flower maiden was being held without a little help. So until I found said help I was wandering around this stinking town. It was true I hated it here, it was worse than being outside the dome.

The annoying humans were all through this horrible place. So like any wolf who wanted to live I had put up my human disguise. My human form was a girl who looked about 16 with long black hair that ended just below my waistline. I wore a black leather jacket over a black long sleeved shirt. I also wore plain denim jeans with black chucks. My wolf had a cinnamon back but, my underside was snow white, so was the tip of my tail. In human and wolf I have bright green eyes.

Suddenly I caught the scent of another wolf, the scent had human mixed in with it. I was a curios wolf so I decided to follow it to see who's it was. After leaving my own pack to search for paradise I hadn't seen or heard of any other wolves. I wasn't to frantic about finding others or finding paradise. They were just things I would like to happen.

I followed the scent to a alley, outside the bar there were to wolves. One of them was a young pup, he was staring at a big grey wolf with a scar on his chest. The little one had a red shirt, cargo pants and hiking boots on, he had auburn hair down to his chin. The big grey one had a torn leather jacket and long leather pants he had a small silver pony tail.

The small brown one started to say something when an old drunk man stumbled around the corner with his dog. The dog was barking like mad at us and the old man was pointing a gun at us. The big grey and I jumped up, out of harms way. The young brown just stood there staring at the old man. I stayed up on the building while the big grey jumped down and yelled at the boy to jump while biting the mans hand. Finally both of them were up with me.

I had no where else to go so I decided to follow the big grey. Apparently the little brown one had the same idea. "My names Toboe, your Tsume right? I heard about you from the crows. But I've never seen you before, what's your name?"

He said, looking at me with big brown eyes. I couldn't help but tell him my name "I'm Larka. I'm kinda new in town." I had only arrived yesterday. Just when Toboe started to babble about nothing Tsume told us to get lost.

"Cant we come with you?" Toboe asked in his little innocent voice. Wait, when did me and Toboe become a we?

"No, you cant." Apparently innocent voices had no effect on Tsume. Maybe Toboe's voice had that effect on me because I was a girl.

Toboe stood there looking sad and disappointed then jumped off the bridge thing into a small alley way. I followed him seeing as Tsume would probably just push me off that way anyway if I stayed. "I wanna go see this girl, do you want to come Larka?"

Well I had nothing better to do "Sure I'll come." He lead me to a large apartment building and told me to wait. Soon a large bird flew towards us, he chased after it. He caught it and started to maul it. "If you like a girl you tell her that, not kill a bird for her!" I said to myself quietly.

I cute girl around four-teen came running after hearing the birds crys. Then I realized, this was Toboe's friends bird he killed. He had really messed up this time. He started howling and changing to his wolf form, right in front of the human girl! What was he doing! I started to run out to stop him, or drag him away. Something!

I had nearly reached him when Tsume came out of no where and grabbed Toboe's scruff of fur on the back of his neck. He ran with Toboe and I followed behind. He took us to a small abandoned apartment building. Apparently he lived here. We sat down and Toboe started talking about is life story, I blanked out after I few moments. I started paying attention again when Toboe yelled. "She still threw you out?" Tsume asked. He should be gentler with Toboe, he was only little.

"She still died, she died." I put an arm around Toboe's shoulders. Poor boy "I let her die..." Toboe cried. Tsume remained silent.

We heard footsteps outside. Tsume got up and opened the door, some guy called Seto told Tsume his gang was leaving town. Tsume just looked shocked. Was everyone going through though times but me?


	2. Toboe, who doesnt howl

We stayed the night at Tsume's place. For breakfast we had hamburgers. "I wonder if I'll ever see Leara again." Toboe said in a quite voice to no one in particular. Tsume and I remained quite. "Do you think it would be okay if I went to visit her?" He asked us, "Sorry, kid, I don't think that's such a great idea..." I told him. Tsume wasn't so careful "Did you she her face? She was pissing in her pants."

"No she wasn't" Toboe almost yelled. 'Here we go' I thought to myself.

"She was reeking of it" Tsume lied.

"Why do you have to lie about everything?"

"Fine then, if you wanna go then go. Its not like I care."

My head went back and forth between the two. Toboe asked why Tsume saved him. Looks like he hit a sore spot. Tsume agreed that Toboe wasn't his friend. Toboe then decided to go for another sore spot. Something along the lines of, your only friends with humans. "You don't know what you talking about. You have no idea what it takes to survive in this city, how dangerous it is. Nothing! Go on lets see how well you do on your own, beat it!" and here I am think only girls throw tantrums. I wasn't going to say that though, Tsume would kick me out as well. Toboe left and Tsume jumped back on the window.

"I'm sick of friends, who needs 'em?" Tsume asked. I didn't answer. The truth was I didn't have an answer. We sat there for awhile in silence. I think he thought I left with Toboe. I wanted to stick with Tsume, he seemed tougher than Toboe.

"Why did you stay, girlie?" He asked me, trying to sound though. Not that he needed to try.

"Because I wanted to see what annoying nickname you could come up with. Duh." I replied in a stupid voice "But seriously, I would rather hang out with quiet old you, than with a pup who wont stop blabbering on about his whole damn life story." Not that I didn't like Toboe it just got tiring hearing about his life. I liked Tsume, he was quiet.

"Fine, stay here then. I have to go check something." His gang was gone what could need to check? None of my business. I would just keep my nose out of it. I ate a few burgers while I waited for him to come back. It seemed to be taking forever. I thought about the wolves I had met so far. Toboe was cute and little, and so innocent. The exact opposite of Tsume. Tsume was strong and tough and oh so sexy, no bad Larka! The man in question walked in just as I slapped my forehead.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"What's that on your arm?" I asked right back. I really didn't want to explain what the slapping was for.

"You remember that big dog that was with the hunter yesterday?" I nodded "It bit my arm."

I gasped, "Don't tell me the big scary Tsume was taken down by a little dog?" I asked in a babyish voice.

"Shut up, I hear someone coming." He snapped at me.

I tilted my head and I heard three pairs of footsteps coming our way, Tsume got into a defensive posture, I got up and stood next to him, he looked at me but didn't say anything. Toboe came in with two other wolves, both males. One wore a yellow and black jacket with sweat pants, he had brown hair he looked kinda chubby. The other had a white shirt, a dark jacket, jeans and converse shoes he had dark brown hair. "Tsume, Larka." Toboe said.

"This is them?" The chubby one asked.

"Duh" I said in my 'no shit' voice. "I'm Larka that's Tsume."

"I smelled the blood from you wound. I smelled it all the way from town." The one with dark brown hair told Tsume.

"And your gunna nurse me back to health? Well I don't need you help." Tsume said in a very gruff voice.

Toboe spoke up "Tsume, Larka, where leaving the city, I think you should come with us.

I stayed quiet and let Tsume speak, "And just where is this merry band of you going?" He asked.

"To paradise" The one with Dark hair answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Your kidding me, and your going with him because you believe in that crap?"

"I don't know but, if we stay here we'll have to spend the rest of our lives in hiding or worse. We just cant live with the humans and survive..." The runt trailed off

The chubby one interrupted saying that we were surrounded. Great. The dark haired one spoke "let me ask you, why did you guys come to this city. It was the flower scent wasn't it? Well its gone now. There's no reason to stay."

"The flower has nothing to do with it, I belong here." Tsume answered.

"I can see that, this city is a dump." That dark haired one was just asking for a fight.

Finally the chubby one said something worth listening to "We don't have time for this." Damn right we don't have time for it, we gotta go. I was going with these guys, with or without Tsume. Oh, great Tsume was picking a fight, wait did he just say he had meet him before? I was looking out the window, porky was right, we were surrounded. The men started shooting at us. "Lets go!" I yelled.

We ran out on to some pipes, I was on the lowest one, Toboe was behind Tsume on the one just above me. Toboe slipped but managed to grab onto a loose pipe. Tsume pulled him up and kept running. Tsume jumped down just behind me. The pipe we were on slowed us down because we had to jump heaps to get to the others. Thankfully the stopped and waited for us. The humans caught up to and were shooting at us. We jumped to the platform that would let us exit the city.

We had to jump down onto some old ruins and Toboe was having some trouble jumping. Tsume solved it by kicking him off the ledge, I was laughing until he pushed me to. 'ass hole' I muttered to myself after I landed. We ran off into the snow. Were the humans couldn't follow. When we were awhile away from the city Tsume turned to look back at the domed city "Screw this journey, paradise can kiss my ass. I'm just fed up with this stinking town, it was time to move on anyway." Then we ran.


	3. Bad Fellow

We had been running for days. No rest no food. I ran next to Tsume, at the back. He didn't seem to mind my presence. After we left the city we learnt the others names. The dark haired one was Kiba, his wolf was pure white.

The one with light brown hair was called Hige, his wolf was the same colour as his hair. Tsume just called him porky. He seemed to prefer nicknames to real ones. He would call me girlie, since I was the only girl Toboe was runt, since he was the smallest and Hige was porky, that one was self explanatory.

We had travelled for three days, across snow and dessert. Through sandstorm and blizzard. During a harsh blizzard we took shelter in a cave. Hige and Toboe were complaining how hungry they were.

"Will you to shut up." Normally I wouldn't have been so harsh. But I was hungry to, being hungry only made me grumpy, especially when we had five people in a confined space two of them complaining about how hungry they were.

Apparently Tsume felt the same way. "Well if worst comes to worst, we can always eat each other. We can start with the runt since he's gotten so weak, and then there's always little porky over there." I laughed at Tsume's words. Then I realized something "Why aren't me and Kiba on the menu, Tsume?" I asked in one of my many mocking tones. "Because," He replied "Kiba's full of crap and your to thin." I laughed again.

Kiba and the others didn't think it was funny. To bad for them. Then I realized they were all staring at me except Kiba. He was glaring at Tsume. Hige started sniffing the air all of a sudden, I couldn't smell anything. Hige got up ran towards the exit, for some reason he ran out of the cave and into the snow. I got up and followed first, then Kiba, then Toboe and finally Tsume.

Hige lead us to a dead deer on a rocky hillside. "I wonder where it came from, I mean its all by it self out here." Toboe said quietly. Trust him to wonder something like that.

I had eaten like this my whole life so it didn't disgust me at all.

"You gunna eat that?" Tsume asked Hige.

"Yeah aren't you?" Hige replied.

"Tsume, just eat some, you never know when we can eat again." I told him.

Tsume was still standing when Toboe asked Kiba what paradise was really like. Before Kiba could answer Hige decided to ad him opinion of what paradise was like. "It's and amazing place, the flowers are always in bloom and there's food everywhere. Oh and there's beautiful babes all over the place." What am I? Dumb ass. "You mean it!" Toboe shouted.

"Of course there are, I hope" Ha, Hige hadn't seen paradise at all.

Then Tsume decided to speak up "Paradise is a totally unfounded fairytale, and if it isn't its probably just some idiots dream." Apparently he wasn't in the best of moods today. I got back to eating and keeping my nose out of yet another fight. "That's it, I cant put up with you losers any more." Then he just walked off. Toboe followed. The kid couldn't see when someone wanted to be left alone, not my problem.

"If you ask me the only one acting like a kid around here is him." Hige snorted.

"Leave him alone! You just don't understand him. He's really nice." I retorted.

I looked up to see Tsume pushing Toboe to the ground. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor kid. He had it coming but, his heart was in the right place. Tsume ran off.

A while later, Porky finished off the food and we lay outside looking at the stars and basking in the moonlight. Hige looked at Kiba and started talking "You know we should go ahead and ditch that guy. It's not like he has to tag along. They just ended up with us thats all."

I was about to comment when Kiba spoke "The same goes for you."

I think Hige thought I had fallen asleep. He seemed to only be talking to Kiba "He's been giving me a real dangerous vibe from the start."

I couldn't hold it in any longer "You know Hige, not everyone is as annoying, whinny and downright selfish as you. Just back off."

Porky gave me an odd look then said "Have it your way girlie." I liked Hige but, he was really annoying sometimes.

I sat up suddenly, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Guys, Tsume's in trouble. I don't know how but I can feel it." We stood up and started walking in the direction Tsume and Toboe had gone. Kiba stepped on something. It was a little red warning sign. I started running. The others followed.

When we reached an old trench we saw a robot thing chasing after Toboe Then Tsume came out of a cave and the robot went after him. It fired a missile thing and Tsume tripped. He just lay there on the ground. He sat up but the Robot was right above him. Kiba ran strait into the trench and went strait for the robot. Of course it was metal so his teeth did nothing. He was pushed off but he landed perfectly, then turned and ran. The robot chased after him, leaving me to jump down and help Tsume, only then did I realize his leg was injured.

I wasn't paying attention to what Kiba was doing, by the time I turned around and looked he had a huge pointy icicle in his mouth. He shoved that into the robots missile launcher, making it explode. It fell down further in the trench. It was in bad shape but it still wasn't dead. It revealed another gun hiding in its neck. That gun was now shooting at Kiba.

Suddenly a dam broke and thousands of gallons of water came down on the robot, finally killing it. The next morning Toboe was going on about how he knew we would come for them. Tsume interrupted "I didn't ask for help, why would you do that? Risk your life for me? And don't try telling that it's because were friends."

"That's easy, it was just instinct."

Tsume got up and tried to limp away, Toboe tried to help. I shoved him out of the way "Runt, don't you think it would be easier on his back if someone taller helped?" Tsume nodded at me and put his arm around my shoulders, I put my arm around his waist.

He then turned his head to look at the others. I turned my head to look up at him. He just looked back at Kiba then turned his head back towards the front. While he was turning his head back our lips were so close to touching. Damn it all I needed to stop thinking like that!

We started to walk and soon after Kiba followed along with Hige and Toboe. We were moving again.


	4. Scar of the Wilderness

We were running again, Tsume's leg had healed so we had decided to run. Right now we were next to a train, sure it was the middle of a blizzard and we were cold tired and hungry but, somehow I ad never felt more free and alive.

Toboe had a dream that we reached paradise, apparently there were red and blue flowers, they were all lunar flowers. His granny was there to, she apparently took care of us and cooked for us. I never wanted to be someone's pet. His dream sounded like we were just her pets. "Sounds like a city coffee shop to me." For once I agreed with Hige.

Soon after he finished telling us about his dream we were on the move again. I was walking next to Hige this time. Kiba and Tsume stopped at the top of a hill. Hige and I caught up soon. I looked in wonder, it was the ocean. I had heard of it but, I had never seen it before.

There were train tracks going across it, there was no other way so we started across the tracks. Not far in Kiba started smelling lunar flowers. Toboe got exited and started to run. Kiba ran after him then Hige I looked up at Tsume "Shall we run after them?" He just nodded at my question. I smiled and started running with Tsume.

I wouldn't admit it to myself yet but I may have a little crush on Tusme. It was a long way until we reached the end of the tracks but, Tsume and I ran it all. We made a race out of it, and here I was thinking Tsume couldn't be playful. Something told me this was as playful as it got.

Almost to soon Kiba and the others stopped. We were outside some kind or crap heap. What kind of place was this? We jumped over the wall. Kiba crouched down, Hige stood up, the runt jumped over the wall but slipped on the ice, Tsume jumped over and kept walking, I jumped to far and landed on Tsume. He tumbled to the ground growling. I immediately jumped of "I am so sorry Tsume, I didn't mean to jump that far." He just glared at me at walked off.

Of course we followed, Kiba and me walked far enough behind the others so that they wouldn't here out conversation. "You like him don't you?" He asked me. Damn it I knew this was going to happen. "Maybe, maybe not." I couldn't think of a good answer. "Tell me when you make up you mind, I'm always here if you need to talk." Kiba walked up to the front with Tsume. No matter how much I didn't like them at first this, pack was starting to grow on me.

Soon enough we came across a pack of wolves, if you could call them that. The Alpha stood up and began to speak "Where are you from?"

"A city to the north." Kiba answered

"Why are you here?" The Alpha asked

"Just passing through, you don't expect us to do business here do you?" Tsume answered

The Alpha asked another question, he was starting to annoy me "Where are you going?"

"To paradise" Toboe said, putting his hands on his hips. The wolves started to laugh at us. How dare they! I started to growl at them, Tsume put a hand on my shoulder. Apparently the pack knew all about paradise. Some fat guy told Toboe it was just a legend. They said they had been there and that it was more like hell. Yeah right. "Toboe, don't listen to them." I said looking down at him.

We all walked off, these people werent worth our time. We went and sat by the ocean with or legs dangling of the edge, I sat in the middle, between Hige and Toboe. Hige's stomach growled, then Tsume's. We all laughed. Toboe yawned "Time to find some where to sleep guys. I think the runts tierd." We started towards the graveyard. It was the only deserted place left.

Once we got there Toboe was whining about how creepy this place was, I heard a strange sound and saw an old dog puts its head out of the hole it was digging. Toboe fell back onto Hige, they fell to the ground. Even Tsume jumped. Kiba and I stayed still at the back of the group.

The old man told us he was digging a hole for himself. He told us of the flower bed that was all over this island. They were all dug up. Toboe wanted to know where the entrance to paradise was, the old man lead us to a hole and said that was the entrance to paradise.

Later in the shack we found Tsume and Kiba were discussing what the old wolves had said while Toboe and I were leaning against each other. He was trying to sleep, I was just thinking about what Kiba said to me earlier. I was planning how to get Tsume alone to tell him how I felt.

Hige jumped up, when a woman came around the corner, it was the same one from before. Kiba looked at her and walked out. Toboe followed him out the door. Hige was stuffing his face, Tsume suddenly snapped at him "Weren't you listening back there? Our little trip is over. We dont have a destination." Hige ignored him and talked to the female, Cole. Tsume left just as Toboe came back complaining that Kiba had left. Toboe just looked at Hige then followed Tsume.

I sat there for awhile just thinking. Hige and Cole sat down and ate. Cole seemed nice but I didnt trust her. I left soon after Hige fiinshed off the bread Cole had given us. Fat bastard. "See you later Hige." Then I left. I walked to the train station, I thought there might be something there, I was right. It was dark inside but, I didnt mind. Toboe was already asleep on the end of the seat. Tsume was still awake at the other end.

Tsume saw me and gestured for me to sit next to him "What's on your mind girlie?" He asked. That really surprised me, the Tsume I had known so far didn't ask questions like that. Maybe he only put on a show for other males. I sat down next to him "Hey Tsume, don't be mad. I have something I really wanna tell you." I looked up at him nervously.

"The thing is" I continued "I really like you." He looked at me, confused for a moment "OK" he replied slowly. He didn't understand what I meant. One way to fix this. I looked at him for a moment and took a deep breath in. I was so afraid of rejection, so I just did it, I didn't leave any time to think.

My lips met his in a fiery embrace, we stayed that way for a few moments before he deepened the kiss. We broke apart for much needed air. "I think I understand now." He said with a smile, I smiled back up at him. As much as I hated to admit it I was tired. I started to yawn.

"Well, it has been a long day and, I think I'm ready for bed." I curled up on the ground as a wolf. To my great surprise he lay down behind me and put his head over my shoulder. "Good night girlie." He said gently into my ear. Right now I couldn't care less about my much hated nickname. I was with Tsume and that's all that I cared about at this moment.

When I woke near dawn Tsume was back on the seat with Toboe and Hige was coming towards us. I stood up, in human form, "Look who finally showed up." Hige ignored my smart ass comment. "Word is they will give us some food here." Tsume and Toboe sat up.

"What about...?" Tsume trailed off, "Kiba? He never did come back." After Hige told us this I started to wonder if he had decided to ditch us.

We walked over to the railing and looked down at the scene below us. There were about ten wolves strapped together it look like they were going to pull something for the humans. The lead human cracked a whip and the wolves started to walk up a steep hill. The four of us were speechless, then I spotted the old man from last night. He looked about ready to die. The wolves stopped moving and the humans threw a bucket of meat around them. I could tell Tsume was more upset than the rest of us "What the hell is going on down there!" he yelled at the Alpha wolf, who was just a few meters away.

"The train makes a quick stop here, it gives the humans and us a chance to eat. It's the only way we can all make a living out here. We work for them and they feed us." he explained. "Scratching each others backs, just like Tsume use to do." Hige exclaimed.

"I may have used them but I was never used by them!" Tsume yelled back at Hige.

The Alpha spoke again "Your opinions don't change a damn thing."

We looked back down at the wolves, the old man finally collapsed. The human cracked his whip but, the old man couldn't move. He was dead. The Alpha gasped and looked further down, Kiba was there. I knew he would come back. He didn't look to pleased about what was going on, Kiba went wolf and ran at the dogs. The Alpha jumped down and stopped him.

Later at the cemetery we stood with the pack and watched the bury the old man. The Alpha started his lecture "I thought I told you not to interfere. We have our own way of doing things around here." I zoned out after that, lectures and fights just annoyed me. The next thing I heard was the Alpha telling us we were still young.


	5. Fallen Wolf

Around noon in the shack we were staying in, Toboe was pressing herbs on to Kiba's wounds. I had to admit, that guy had a nice body. Made me think of what Tsume was like under the leather jacket. I giggled and the others stared at me. Damn it, got to learn to control that.

"He couldn't watch that, without doing something about it." Toboe said sadly.

"Still he shouldn't have butted in." I nodded at Tsume words. I was sitting in the corner while Tsume stood above me in the door way. "We cant move Kiba now." Toboe was right, as much as I wanted to get out of here, Kiba was still pretty beat up. I had to agree with Hige when he said that we should have left yesterday.

Kiba woke up and started to struggle against Toboe. "You cant go anywhere the way you are right now, you have wounds all over the place and your stomach is empty. Just lie back down before I make you."

"Well, I know somebody here has a stuffed gut." Tsume was glaring at Hige.

"You were the ones who didn't eat, Cole was nice enough to bring us food and you turned up your noses. It's rude to let good food go to waste. I had no choice someone had to eat it." Damn Hige.

"It's even more rude to eat it all without offering any to anyone else. I was sitting here for ages and you didn't even look at me." I growled. I had been sitting here for ages while he talked to Cole and ate all the food.

"Yeah, you could have left us some." Toboe moaned.

"Well you were the ones who wandered off by your selves, not me."

"Did you have a nice time on your little date?" Tsume asked sarcasticly.

"I don't know there was something about her that seemed kind of lonely." Honestly Hige just knew nothing about girls.

"Well what are we gunna do? We have to do something." Toboe was right, we couldn't just sit around here all day. "Like imposing on Cole's hospitality for awhile?" Hige asked excitedly. Trust him.

Tsume was apparently feeling the same way I was. "How about you go get us something to eat?" He snapped. He took I steep towards Hige, Porky jumped up and left "Alright, I'm going." If anyone could scare Hige it was Tsume.

Toboe got up to "I'll go find more herbs for his wounds." He ran out the door.

"I'm just going to stay here." I said quietly, Tsume nodded at me. He hadn't actually spoken to me since last night. Everyone stayed quiet for awhile.

After awhile Tsume sat down next to me. Kiba woke up again and Tsume stood up. "You know we've wasted a hell of a lot of time because of you." Kiba just glared at Tsume "Hige and Toboe have gone of to look for food, what were you up to last night? I know you didn't get all those wounds at the station." He turned away form Kiba "Not like I care or anything."

Kiba changed the subject "I saw them once before, when I was little. I was still just a cub, in the region where I was born. They had blossomed all over."

"What are you talking about?" Tsume and I asked at the same time.

"White flowers that only bloomed under, a full moon. They were lunar flowers. They were all burned to ashes."

"What the hell bought this on!" Tsume looked like he was ready to explode.

"A fire raged across our lands, it burned all the flowers in an instant. All of my friends were killed, I was the only one who survived, why me? Why just me. I don't have a pack any more, the only place left for me now is paradise." I couldn't help it, I was crying. I went over and hugged Kiba. I looked back at Tsume and he was just glaring at us. I felt that now might be the time to stop. I put Kiba down slowly then walked outside. I mouthed sorry to Tsume on my way out. I'm not sure he saw.

I sat down outside for awhile. All to soon I heard Toboe running back. He seemed afraid of something, what could he be afraid of? He was a wolf. I gasped when Toboe told us about Hige getting caught. Tsume started yelling at Toboe, poor little runt "Tsume leave him alone." I had just said that when Kiba started limping towards the door. The rest of us followed.

It was taking far to long so Tsume, being the impatient bugger he is, lifted Kiba up on his shoulder and ran with him the rest of the way into town. Eventually Tsume put Kiba down, we saw Cole and began to follow her. She led us strait to the pack.

"Well now, looks like lasts nights beating didn't sink in" They all laughed at that. The Alpha appeared behind us. I watched the rest of the pack cautiously, I was ready to fend off any attackers. Kiba went after the fat wolf and Zali shoved him out of the way, he pushed me out of the way as well. I went and helped support Kiba.

The pack started to attack Zali, Kiba tried to help and I pulled him back when Zali told him to stay out of it. Eventually the stopped beating him up and left. He sat up and started to speak "If you plan on giving up on paradise now might be the time."

"I don't have anywhere to go back to. The only thing I can do is keep moving forward" Kiba said

"Even if hell is what were headed towards." We all stared at Tsume. None of us expected him to say something like that. "You people may not have been able to find paradise but, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind we will." I really was not expecting that.

Zali the Alpha stood up "Come on, I can still run." He ran off and the boys followed. Before I left I put a hand on Cole's shoulder "Don't worry he will be back for you." She smiled at me. Then I ran after the boys. We caught up to the truck soon and saw Hige starting to stand up. Bad news,the drivers weren't looking back. We dashed in front of the truck witch made the driver lose control and tip it over.

Hige's cage fell off and he started complaining about how rough we were "Larka your a girl, your not supposed to be rough." Damn it, I have had enough of Hige and his stereotypes and girl jokes. Before I could say anything Toboe butted in "Do you how lucky you are to be alive?"

"Come on, Porky, You can get out of there yourself. Cant you?" Tsume asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, but you know, that barbaric stuff really isn't my thing." After hearing this Kiba bent down and started to chew the bars so Hige could get out. Once Hige was out the man in the truck took out a gun and started to shoot at us. Zali quickly pounced on him and he dropped the gun.

We went back to the hole in the cemetery, this time instead of just looking at it we went in. It led to a large tunnel. Hige was just right, this place reeked. Zali said he wasn't coming with us, that was fine by me.

"You know, you don't seem like much of a wolf. A wolf protects its own, it's not natural for it to look after another pack" Tsume was right.

"Your right I guess I really have fallen." Zali replied.

Kiba started to run ahead, the tunnel creped me out but, I followed my pack. I swear I heard Zali say something it sounded like "flowers are clever things, even if it looks like they vanished they never really go away. Kind of like a pack of wolves. As long as there's a moon flowers will never die and neither will us wolves."


	6. The Successors

It had taken two days but, we had finally gotten out of that tunnel. Right now we were in a dark forest. I didn't like this place. It was totally deserted not even a mouse. I was walking between Tsume and Hige, we were walking in single file and Toboe was way behind. Hige turned around and yelled at him "Hurry up runt or we'll leave you behind." I sighed, I that been like this since we got into that damn tunnel. Toboe was always left behind.

"You wanna give us a clue here?" Tsume's question was directed at Kiba who had taken the lead. "Where exactly are we headed?" Tsume asked.

It was the same answer every time "To paradise"

"What the hell is guiding you there?" Tsume asked again. I had been wondering about that.

"I'm going on instinct." I hated that word. It's what someone said when they really meant they where winging it.

We all looked up when we heard a sound, it was one of those damn noble airships. I hated that sound. "She's there. I can feel it." Kiba started to walk forward. "It's nothing to do with us, stay out of it!" Tsume's yelling seemed to have no effect on Kiba. "Don't you guys feel anything at all!" Kiba yelled back at us then he just ran away. He was running full speed. One of the airships started going down. Then we saw her, the flower maiden she was about to land on a mountain that had some old ruins on it.

It took us a long time but, we made it up. For some reason all the guys were getting worked up over the scent of the flower. Even Tsume.

We came out of the trees onto a large field or flowers. They were all pink and purple. None of them were lunar flowers. There was a lake as well. In the lake were some rocks and on one of the rocks was girl. She was dressed all in white and had pink hair. She looked up and I realized that she had blood red eyes.

The guys were blushing and smiling like maniacs. Kiba walked up to her, he stepped right into the water and went into his wolf form. "Cheza" that's all he said. No matter how much I didn't want to admit it I was a little jealous of her. What girl wouldn't be? Here I am on this trip, the whole time and they hardly notice me. Cheza walks in and their all head of heels for her.

Cheza knelt down and hugged Kiba. "I wanna be held like that." The runt was looking really dreamy right now. "That's her, that's the flower maiden." Hige looked extremely exited.

Kiba and Cheza held hands and walked ahead of us around the garden. "Hey Larka?" Toboe asked nervously "Yeah Toboe?"

"Can I hold your hand?" He was cute. Tsume glared at Toboe when I took his hand. He had been Pretty much ignoring me since the night at the station. I was planning to give him time to think.

"The way I heard it some Noble's with to much time on their hands made her from a lunar flower." Hige told us.

"They made a human from a flower, gimmie a break, you don't really believe all that?" I had to agree with Tsume. It sounded like some of fairy tale.

"Come on, she's standing right there isn't she?" That wasn't the point. Just because she was standing there didn't prove anything.

We walked into the castle ruins, it didn't look to nice in here. Kiba and Cheza went into a hall kind of thing. The rest of us stayed in the hallway. We heard gunfire. Damn it! It was those humans from freeze city. "Kiba, come on. We have to get out of here."

I was panicking and Hige wasn't helping by saying there was no where to go "Hige shut up! Your not helping." I finally yelled. I hardly ever lost my temper like that but, Hige was pissing me off.

Cheza and Kiba just walked off through the next door. Damn it! "What do we do?" Toboe asked.

Tsume took the led "We don't have much of a choice, Toboe go with Kiba. Hige and Larka come with me." Looked like he had this planned out. How bad could it be? Toboe followed Kiba and Hige and I chased after Tsume.

We started dropping down onto the humans. They fell easier than I expected. Then we came to a large room that the ceiling had fallen in on. Suddenly it didn't seem so easy, there were so many. We had to dive for shelter. We ran back down the halls towards Kiba and Toboe. It looked like we got there and finished some men off just in time.

Cheza led us down a small hallway, the led to a large room with one big tree in the middle. That was it it looked like a dead end. "We could always try surrendering." Tsume and I just glared at Hige for even suggesting it "I'm kidding!" It didnt matter wolves dont surrender.

Cheza put a hand on the tree and a large hole appeared in it. The Kiba, Hige and Toboe went in. I followed but looked behind when I didn't hear Tsume's footsteps "Tsume come on" I called. He ran in after us. I could hear the humans coming and started to sprint. At the end of the dark tunnel there was a light, the light was hard but I was glad to see it.


	7. The flower maiden

**I only own Larka :)  
><strong>

The mountain path we were on was hard to move around on. It only made it worse that we were being watched. Or at least trying to be found.

"I wonder if she's on edge? But why?" Toboe asked

"It's because your all on edge around her, that's why." Kiba answered

"Who the hell wouldn't be on edge? She not a human and she's not a wolf, or even a flower. How are we ever supposed to trust something like that?" Tsume was right.

"I don't know, I don't see how we can" I replied.

"Are we really gunna take her with us?" Tsume asked

"Yeah" Kiba got on my nerves sometimes. I hated how he was always so sure.

"I think it would be nice to always have the smell of lunar flowers around. Don't you?" Toboe asked.

"Isn't that exactly what makes her a danger to us? If she stinks up the place while we're moving around its as good as giving away our location." I had to agree with Tsume.

"A humans sense of smell isn't that sensitive.." Kiba retorted

"But my eyes tell me she's trouble. What good is she to us anyway?" Tsume answered immediately. I would not want to get into a fight with Tsume, physical or vocal.

"Cheza if more important to us than anything else! If your a wolf Tsume you should know this!" Kiba said, he was really angry now.

"Sorry but I don't." Tsume wasn't helping the situation.

"Guys stop it" I said quietly. They didn't hear me.

"She's gunna get us to paradise!"

"I am so sick of hearing that word."

Just then a quiet song started. It was Cheza singing.

Toboe and Hige fell down and closed their eyes.

"Damn it Toboe don't fall asleep!" Tsume growled at him

"To late" Toboe muttered before drifting off.

Then Hige fell asleep, then Kiba sat against a tree and drifted off to. My mind was fogging up quickly now, I was so tired. I couldn't stay awake much longer. I stumbled over to Tsume and sat down next to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and fell asleep.

I had an amazing dream that night. I was with my old pack and we were in a field of lunar flowers. At the end of the field there was a small lake with a water fall. It was so beautiful. Then my new pack came. The moonlight shone behind them and it made it look like they were glowing. My mother said she approved my choice to leave the pack. Then I realized, this dream was what I most wanted. Either that or it was what paradise would look like for me. I'm not sure.

Before I could ponder or experiment further I was woken up by the sound of foot steps. It was just Hige and Toboe going into town to search for food. I didn't want to go, I didn't like humans. I stayed back and looked after Cheza and Tsume. Tsume was still asleep.

I sat on the tree root and waited for him to wake up. He looked a lot less mean and tough when me was sleeping. When he woke he jumped back at the feeling of Cheza's hand on his head.

"You slept the longest, did you have sweet dreams?" Cheza asked.

"I don't remember." Tsume wasn't very good at lying sometimes.

Kiba finally came back, where had he been? And why did he have to come back just when Tsume looked like he was going to ask me something?

"The humans are covering every road out of here. We're going to have to find another way." Kiba told us.

"Next time don't leave it here with me, I don't mind Larka but that thing annoys me." Tsume could be annoying sometimes. It wasn't Kiba's fault he had horrible timing.

Tsume stormed off to the other side of the clearing. I went to sit with him. We sat in silence for awhile before he spoke "Larka, I'm sorry we haven't spoken much since the other night. I need to tell you something but, I don't know how to say it..." It was that moment that Runt and Porky burst through the trees and into the clearing. "We'll talk later, is that okay with you?" I asked him.

He nodded and stood up. I followed him towards the others. I realized that the other two were holding things. Toboe held up something fluffy "What the hell is that?" I asked him.

"It's a present." He went and put the thing around Cheza's shoulders. She didn't look to happy, she looked kind of sad. "Told you, now these are great." Hige held up a pair of pink boots.

I sniggered, pink was the worst colour available, though Cheza seemed to like it. Tsume seemed to agree with me "I wouldn't be so sure."

Toboe's gift fell from Cheza's shoulders when she put her feet into the pink boots. She danced around for a bit before stopping suddenly. We all looked where she was staring. At the end of the path was an old woman. She was draped in pink shawls and cloaks. She walked towards Cheza and Kiba stepped in front of her. "Old lady, who are you?"

She took off her black glasses. Her eyes were red like Cheza's. She said something about Cheza being a perfect creation then the humans showed up "I gotta a feeling we shouldn't hang around here any longer." Tsume said. I just nodded.

The old lady was faster than I expected. She led us to her home, I think thats what it was. She started to explain about her past "I felt them within my body. The terrible events that occurred and those hanabito, the unfortunate and imperfect ones, had no choice but to wither and die. I was fortunate enough to escape from the castle. In the forest at the foot of the mountain I stayed in hiding for a long, long time. Before I knew it I was left all alone. Even if you know nothing about yourself I do, I know you very well indeed."

"All this time this one has been asleep and waiting, waiting just for you." Cheza looked up at Kiba and he smiled back at her.

The old lady started speaking again "The wolf seeks out the flower and, the flower seeks out the wolf. Yet no matter how you feel you must not go with them." Who was she to tell Cheza what to do? I may not like her but she was free to do as she pleased.

"But why?" Cheza asked.

"It will only lead to destruction." That old woman was getting on my nerves.

"Are you crazy?" Kiba finally spoke out.

"I'm not talking to you!" This is why I didn't like old people.

"Come on Cheza lets go." Kiba looked at her. She looked at the ground, away from Kiba. I stopped paying attention and looked out the window. "Shh, be quiet!" Tsume said suddenly. A woman was wandering around outside. What the hell was she doing here?

We quickly left the house. Tsume, Hige, Toboe and me went high up in the tree and dropped down around the woman "Your the ones that were with Cheza, who are you? What's going on here?" She turned to watch Kiba and Cheza jump. By the time she looked back we were gone.

We ran into town and just kept running. We stopped soon, when Cheza sensed that the old woman was withering. "Kiba can this one stay with you? Is it alright that this one stays with you?"

"Cheza you have to stay with us."

"Hige?"

"Sure why not? When your on a journey the more the merrier."

"Toboe?"

He just laughed and nodded.

"Larka?" I wasn't expecting her to ask me

"Yep, this group needs more girls in it."

"Tsume?" We all turned to look at him, we all expected him to say no but, Tsume was full of surprises. "Fine you can tag along, if it gets us to where were going I can put you with you."

We carried on walking and Kiba swiped a coat for Cheza, we even walked past that woman from before, not even she noticed it was Cheza.

Soon we were back at that old woman's house, Cheza went in alone this time. When she came out she looked a lot sadder.


	8. Song of sleep

**I only own Larka :)  
><strong>

We ran into the city looking for shelter. Kiba told us about an old dump, if it was the only place available I had no problem with it. On our way there we saw a black dog. She had stunning eyes, they were bright blue. I remembered her from somewhere but I couldn't put my finger on it. Cheza stopped and talked to her. "We have a friend even here." She walked up to the dog "You do not know what you are, you never did. It is alright. There is some wolf inside of you to." The dog, wolf, whatever it was backed away when Cheza tried to pat her.

"You were alone your whole life, were you not?" Strangely enough the wolf/dog pulled against her leash when Kiba pulled Cheza away.

We finally made it to the dump with no more distractions. Kiba found an old rusted bus for us to hide in. It would do for now. Cheza was going to stay with Toboe in the bus, the rest of us would split up and search for a way out of this stupid town.

We went out separate ways, it was risky like this but less conspicuous. I wandered the streets for awhile. I asked at the bus station, but the humans from the castle were checking all passengers. They were checking everyone who left the town. Feeling defeated I walked back to the bus. Hige and Kiba were back already. I walked in half way through Kiba telling them about the forest of death.

We would have to go through the forest of death, no human could survive in there, Tsume walked in and told us he had found a perfect escape route. We would leave tonight.

The sun went down and we got out of the bus with out to much hassle. Tsume, Hige and I went right into the humans camp, that was the diversion to get the others away from the cemetery so that Kiba, Toboe and Cheza could get out. Or end of the plan was working perfectly.

We reached the cemetery without a hitch, the other were waiting for us. We jumped off the cliff and landed perfectly "Job done."I told them. I shot was fired and it went right over my shoulder, if I had been a few inches to the right it would have hit me right in the head.

I turned around to see the old man getting ready to fire again "You damn wolves!" I was really starting to hate this guy. He kept shooting, I felt a sudden pain in my left shoulder blade, I cried out in pain. I had been hit by the geezer.

Cheza tripped over and the old guy aimed his gun at her, Kiba quickly stepped in the way and took a bullet for her. The old guy went to fire again but there was just a click of an empty barrel. He had to reload but, by the time he had finished we had disappeared into the forest of death.

**I know it's short, please don't hit me!**


	9. Misgivings

**I only own Larka :)**

I didn't like it in here, I didn't like it one bit. The trees were thick and all of them were dead. It scared me. I was the only one who had dropped the human disguise, in situations like this I felt better in my true form. It was easier to handle when I was ready for a fight.

"Man this place is depressing, I thought forests were supposed to be more alive, ya know?" Hige didn't sound to pleased either.

"It's the forest of death, remember?" Toboe answered

"That's the reason the humans cant follow us in here." Kiba joined in the conversation.

"Well, we don't have to rely on compasses or whatever. But shouldn't there at least be some animals? You know, like a rabbit or a fox?" Hige asked

"A rabbit, huh? In other words your hungry." Toboe was still smiling nothing ever got that kid down, hell we were in the forest of death and he was still smiling.

"So sue me." Hige replied

"Toboe, we call him porky for a reason." I said with a small laugh. I couldn't help but laugh at there antics. "We'll probably come across a town once we're through this forest. Just hang in there until then." Kiba told us.

"If we make it out of here alive that is." Tsume said kicking a skull. It was a human skull. Toboe stepped back onto a huge bug. It dive bombed me and a screamed, I hated bugs, but before it reached me Tsume caught it. "Thanks Tsume, I hate bugs."

"I can tell. Hige your hungry aren't you. Chow down." He shoved the bug in Hige's face.

"Why the hell should I?" Hige asked

"Cause you've got the strongest stomach, right?" Toboe laughed

"Eat it." Tsume continued with a completely strait face.

Hige thought quick and took it from Tsume's hand "I know, lets give it to Cheza! Your hungry right?" Hige hadn't even made it to Cheza when Kiba smacked the bug out of his hands "Cheza does not eat bugs." Kiba had been getting really protective of Cheza lately. It was annoying and funny at the same time.

"This one doesn't eat, anything." Cheza said from behind Kiba. After that we kept walking until clumsy Runt tripped and twisted his ankle. Then Cheza came over and started doing something and his ankle healed, then she started petting him. Toboe started to laugh "Cheza could you pet me to?" Hige asked. They seemed to be enjoying it.

"Come on Larka and Tsume, have Cheza pet you to, it feels unbelievable." Toboe called to us. I was standing away from the main group and a few meters away from Tsume. We both sighed at the same time.

This forest put both of us in worse moods than usual. "What's eating you girlie?" He asked. "Just the fact that I think Toboe has a little crush on me and a have no clue how to let him down easy." It was true, Toboe had been really friendly toward me lately but, somehow he was shy at the same time.

Tsume just laughed at me "To bad for him."

"Whys that?" Tsume quickly pulled me behind a tree while the others weren't looking.

"Because your already mine. If you want to be that is." This is what Tsume wanted to tell me the other day? I was so happy right now!

"I'll be yours, if you'll be mine." I smiled up at him.

"I think I can live with that, lets go before the others leave us behind." We quickly went over to them before they left with out us.

After a few hours we were still wandering through the dark forests.

"Hey I know, when we get out of here what's the first thing you wanna do?" Toboe asked to break the silence.

"What do you think?" Hige asked

"Eat" Tsume replied coldly

"Eat and Sleep" Was Kiba's answer

"All of the above" I told them.

Hige and Toboe continued the conversation. I wasn't really paying attention any more. Cheza was panting and she fell back onto Kiba. He laid her out on the ground.

"A bird!" Hige suddenly called

"It's the forest of death you must be seeing things" Tsume growled.

"No, I'm sure I heard the flapping of wings above us. It was from an owl which means, we got meat." Hige yelled before running off in to the forest.

"Hige, you idiot! Get your ass back here!" I yelled at the spot he had been a moment ago.

"Damn it, stay here" He growled at me and Toboe. We went back to Cheza and Kiba and waited for them to come back. Vine things started appearing on Cheza's skin and Toboe howled for the others to come back.

"What's wrong?" Tsume asked us

"Some vine things started appearing on her skin." I told Tsume

"Is she withering?" He asked, it did look that way.

We started moving again this time Cheza was on Kiba's back. An owl came out of nowhere and started bothering us with silly rhymes and annoying riddles. Kiba started badgering it to tell us where the water was. It flew away and led us to a cave. Then it just went on about bravely entering and confined spaces.

"Fine then, lets just go in, there's no place out here we're gunna find water. We might as well try the cave." I said as I walked in. The rest followed me. After awhile we realized we were going in circles, then Kiba got all pissed off over nothing. He totally snapped at Toboe for offering to carry Cheza.

"Would you cut the crap, we cant trust your nose any more. The scent of flowers has screwed it up." Tsume growled at Kiba.

"My nose is fine!" Kiba yelled back, this guy was moodier than a teenage girl.

"Kiba, put Cheza down." Tsume told him, I didn't know how Tsume was that calm.

"Why Tsume do you still not trust her!"

"With the way you've been acting, it's you we cant trust. As leader of a pack you have to be calm and attached and right now you don't have that. It's impossible for someone to be right all the time you know."

"Stay out of my way." If Kiba attacked Tsume I was ready to pounce on him.

"Is that a threat?"

"Guys, cut it out." Toboe stepped forward. Right on to some old bird bones. They were looking at the bones when a huge bug crawled out onto Hige's leg. He kicked it off onto a rock. Millions more bugs came out and surrounded us.

"Lets get out of here." Hige called.

"It's a little late for that" I called back.

The bugs started jumping at us. Tsume got up onto a cliff and Kiba threw Cheza up to him. Tsume jumped back down landing right next to me.

"Are wolves going to lose to a bunch of bugs?" Tsume asked

"Although I must admit, we both like to hang around flowers." Toboe commented

"Nicely said runt" Hige said

"Here they come" Kiba told us

"Lets go" I growled

We fought hard and long but, no matter how strong we were there were just to many of them. They were all over us. we were soon covered in blood. Cheza jumped down right into the sea of bugs.

She ran forwards, into a small entrance and down a steep slope. The bugs followed her. We ran after her and saw what she was running towards. In the small cave there were bug eating plants.

Toboe called to us "Hey, guys I see light! It's the way out." He was right, the tunnel he found led to a large tree surrounded lake. It was amazing. I stood at the edge and Tsume came and stood beside me "So tell me girlie, can you swim?"

"Of course I can swim, why would you ask someth-" I was cut off as he pushed me in. They all laughed at me, even Cheza. I got out soaking wet, Toboe was laughing the hardest so I went and hugged him. "Hey get off me! Your all wet!" We all just laughed at the runt before diving in. We all looked up when Cheza got into the water. She looked like she was glowing when she stood in the moonlight.

We slept by the lake that night, it was so peaceful. We all slept around Cheza it was so warm and comfortable. I was next to Tsume and he had his head on my shoulder. I would have liked to stay like that forever.


	10. Moon's Doom

I woke up the next morning to the sound of giggling. Boys giggling. That concerned me. I opened my eyes to see Hige and Toboe standing right above us. Tsume's head was still on my shoulder, that's what they were laughing at. Time to manoeuvre the mine field.

"Guys, piss off. If Tsume wakes and finds you laughing at him he's going to kill you. You know he will." Tsume threats always work. "Put it this way, right now I am your lifeline. You can either walk away and stop giggling like teenage girls. Or I can walk up Tsume." They walked away. I knew they would, everyone in the pack knew the wrath of Tsume.

Soon enough Kiba approached us, "Larka, you have to get up. We're about to leave."

"Uh, fine, I'm getting up." I moved out from under Tsume's head. He grumbled and opened his eyes "Larka come back." Even I had to laugh at this. "Come on Tsume the packs about to leave." He got up and glared at everyone, he was not I morning person.

Finally we were moving, soon my good mood was ruined by Hige asking us annoying questions. "So Tsume, how did you sleep last night?" Eventually I got fed up with his questions, "Hige, it sounds to me like you jealous that Tsume had someone to sleep with last night. Is my little Hige getting lonely." I said the last part in one of those voices people use on little kids.

Everyone laughed at Hige's blush. We were all happy, it was a full moon tonight. We walked into the crap heap that the humans called a town. It was mostly men and it looked like me and Cheza were the only girls around. The men kept whistling at us.

Hige's thoughts seemed to be echoing mine "Man, what a seedy looking town."

"It's my kind of place." I nodded my head, Tsume would fit in here. I wouldn't though. "Smell the danger in the air, my bloods on fire."

"Me to, me to!" Toboe rolled up his sleeve trying to look and sound tough. It was cute when kids did that.

"Pretty big talk for someone who's scared all the time." Hige got Toboe in a headlock. "But that's not the only reason your fired up, Is it runt? For one tonight's-"

Kiba cut him off "Yeah, it's a full moon."

Toboe jumped out of Hige's hold a slipped into a wall. "I know it's like that for us 'cause we get you strength from the full moon, but what about Cheza? She looks like shes glowing to." we all turned to look at Cheza.

"Once a year on the night of a full moon, the flowers will here the moons call, and return to paradise. That's a legend I heard once." Kiba told us.

"So tonight she'll-" Tsume began

"I'm not sure if it will be tonight."

"What's gunna happen to her?" Toboe asked

"Your not saying Cheza's gunna bloom or something, are ya?" Hige joined

"Cheza turned around and called to us "This one is exited to!"

Hige and I found food and the others found small pond. We spent the day there. When the moon started to rise I felt like I could do anything. It was amazing.

Tsume threw his hands above his head "Man, I just wanna howl my head off!" I walked over to him, put my hands on his neck and kissed him, he lifted me up slightly. I hadn't realized he was that much taller than me until now. Kiba just smiled at us, Hige and Toboe looked like they were waiting for Tsume to throw me off. He didn't.

Kiba turned to look back at Cheza first. "Something is gunna happen." Tsume and I broke apart and watched Cheza. She was spinning. Cheza was spinning quickly in the water. Soon we started to run around her. Tsume stopped suddenly and howled, I started soon after he did. Hige was next, then Toboe and last Kiba. Soon the small town was filled with the howls of wolves.

We sat and looked at the moon. We sat in a sat circle around Cheza, I felt it to. Something was about to happen. Suddenly Cheza opened her eyes, and we were standing in a field of lunar flowers. There was a path of lunar flower that went all the way into the horizon. It was amazing.

"It's the path to paradise." Hige whispered

"Is that really what it is?" Tsume asked no one in particular

"I think it is." I replied still staring at the path.

"It's amazing." Toboe said

Cheza said nothing and started to run along the path the pack followed without a second thought. Very soon we started hearing an airship, we looked up to see Darcia's airship almost above us. The flowers disappeared.

The ship landed and the doors opened. Lord Darcia stepped out "The wolves, it's been a long time."

"That stench, he's a noble." Tsume said.

"What are you doing here?" Kiba asked.

"Was your little dream pleasant? The one where you were going to paradise?" he said, ignoring Kiba's question.

"What?" Kiba yelled

"The time has not yet come for that. Return to me, Cheza." He was still ignoring the questions.

Cheza gasped and stepped back. "Get out of out way!" Kiba yelled while lunging forward to attack Darcia. "It is futile." was all he said.

The ship shot a laser at Kiba, another one came strait after that. It hit Toboe "Toboe!" Hige and I yelled at the same time. Hige tried to run to him but another laser shot out soon after, that one hit both Hige and Toboe. Cheza screamed. "Ah, the blood of the wolves, how magnificent." He seemed to amused at my friends pain.

Kiba and Tsume ran at the ship, yet another laser shot out and hit Tsume "Tsume!" I cried. That was enough, he would not hurt my friends any more. I ran at the ship, but a laser came out of no where and hit me right on my chest. It burned my white fur, The blood didnt show up on the red fur on my back. Kiba was hit again but he just got back up. I fainted, I couldn't hold on any longer.


	11. Vanishing Point

The next thing a remember was being woken by Tsume. We walked to an abandoned warehouse thing. It was a hard journey. We were all injured but, Kiba was hurt the worst. We stayed the night there but, no one but Hige slept. Cheza was gone.

Kiba had not spoken since Darcia took her away.

We were all sad and tired, just when we had started to move around and talk we heard some guys yelling outside "Get back here!" "Come back damn it!" A few seconds later a large black dog came running through the door. It was the hunters dog.

As the dust cleared we saw her as a human. "Wow, what a babe." Trust Hige to say something like that. Some human men came in after her "She's got friends. Hand over the girls." There were only three men, easy to deal with. One of them went for me and Tsume the other went after Kiba and Toboe. The last one went for the dog and Hige. We all dodged them easy. Kiba tripped one of them, Tsume punched the one that went for us and Hige tackled the leader.

They started screaming and we ran for it. Later in the town dump Tsume was laughing about what happened. "Did you see the looks on there faces?"

"I know, that felt terrific. Kiba are you all right?" Toboe turned to Kiba when he sat down.

"Yeah" Kiba replied

Hige asked the hunters dog if she was okay. "Yeah, thanks for helping me."

Tsume heard her "We didn't do it for you. Those idiots just happened to catch us in a bad mood, that's all."

"She was just thanking us, why do you have to be so harsh? It's not like we run into girls everyday."

"Hige where have you been? Tsume's always harsh and you've been travelling with me. You run into at least one girl everyday." What was I? Chopped liver.

"You don't count, your with Tsume already. By the way I'm Hige" He looked back up at the hunters dog.

"I'm Blue. It's been awhile, huh?" She said looking up at us

"You did some pretty nasty things to us when you were with the human." Tsume stated

"Where's that old man you were with?" Toboe asked

"Something happened and we were spilt up."

"He was still tracking us in the last city we were in." Kiba told her.

"I know he was, that's why he was there. Pops would track down a wolf to the ends of the earth. Hey that other girl, isn't she with you? You know the other one you were travelling with. She had a really strange scent."

"The girl? You mean Cheza?"

"That's a bit of a sore subject right now, I'll tell you later." I promised

"I know, why don't we look for some food. I mean, we did just bump into each other and all, besides there's a whole lot of danger for a girl in a town like this." Hige was right, not even I was going to wander this town alone. Not without one of the guys with me.

"Not a chance porky. As if I'd even hang with her, not when she was doing everything she could to hunt us down." Tsume snapped.

"Tsume, Hige is right. As much as I hate to admit it this town is to dangerous for a girl to wander around on her own. We shouldn't leave her by herself." I argued

"Forget it, I don't wanna hang out with a bunch of kids either." Blue said then she just walked away "see ya 'round" This is why I didn't try to understand other women.

"Aren't you guys being a little cold." Hige yelled at us before running off after Blue.

Tsume sat back down "His tail wags whenever there's another girl around, just let him go."

"When we were back in that city she found out she was half wolf, Cheza told her." Kiba told us. "That side of her must have woken up after meeting Cheza."

I sat next to Tsume for awhile. The remaining group didn't speak much. It was sunset and Hige still hadn't come back. "I wonder where Hige is." Toboe sat up.

"Once he gets dumped he'll come sulking back." Tsume said. I could feel the vibrations in his chest as he spoke. I had my head on his chest and one of his arms was around my shoulders.

"Well I'm gunna go look for him. Just take it easy 'till I get back." Toboe walked off.

"That's the same crest that was on the castle where we found Cheza" Kiba commented

"This area must still be part of that nobles territory."

"The curse of the house of Darcia. That's what the guy back there said when he saw us."

"Humans have always seen wolves that way, that's why there so scared of us. Why didn't you let him have it back there? I would have expected you to jump at the chance to rip those humans to pieces. It's not 'cause of your injuries is it?" Tsume asked Kiba. I stayed quiet it was just Tsume and Kiba talking.

"Even if we had killed them I doubt they would have tasted to good."

"Cant argue with that." We stayed quiet waiting for the others to come back. I wouldn't mind if Blue came with us.

We jumped up when we heard some guys coming. They had guns with them this time. They were the same ones from before but, the leader bought more people this time. The leader started shooting at us.

One of the shots hit my right leg. One of the bullets grazed Tsume's arm. We ran but, they just kept shooting. We arrived at a camper van and an old woman came out ans saw us "What's the matter? Have you been hurt? Are you alright?" An old man stepped out of the van with a gun aimed right at us. "Elmira, come over here now."

"We have no intention of hurting either one of you" Kiba told him.

"For heavens sakes, put the gun down, their only children." The old man nearly yelled at the man.

"Don't be stupid, their strays and their dangerous."

"What are you talking about? Have you lost your senses?"

"Elmira, I may be an old man but I am not going senile. Take a close look at those three."

Hige, Toboe and Blue came running up to us. The man shot at them but missed. "We're not going to do anything to you so, just leave us alone. I don't want to fight if there's no reason to, I don't want to kill." Kiba said quietly.

"Those people want to capture us and sell us to the highest bidder, it's up to you whether we can avoid bloodshed." Tsume looked up at the man. He nodded.

Quickly as we could Toboe, Hige and I laid out on the ground and the others hid in the van. The old man shot around us being careful not to hit us. It turned out the old couple were good actors and the men soon left.

The sun had set and we were sitting around the van eating the wonderful food the old woman had bought out for us. She was so nice. They told us about Darcia's castle in the west. Apparently it was in ruins, that's where we would go next. That might be where Cheza was so, we would go there. If she wasn't there we would keep searching.

My leg was painful but I could handle it. It was going to take a lot more than that to slow me down.


	12. Fallen Keep

"So where are you guys heading?" Blue asked. We were back in town, near the centre. Kiba said we were waiting for our wounds to close up enough so we could be faster. "We're making out way to paradise." Hige told her.

"It sounds tempting but, I cant go." That was fine by me. Sure I would like to have another girl with us but it wasn't really that important. Besides, I kind of liked being the only girl.

"Then I'm not going either."

"Hige, you cant just not come because she's not. You just meet her yesterday." I said

"You know, It would probably be better off if you stayed with the humans. It's not to late to go back." Kiba was right, she would probably go back to them anyway.

"What the hell are you saying Kiba?" Hige was yelling

Blue was calm when she spoke "I have no intention of going back. I can never return to the way I was before, not now. I just need to find out what I really am."

Kiba gave her the same advice he gave everyone else "Well then, the only thing you can do is keep moving forward."

"Well then, on to paradise!" Hige yelled while pointing across the dessert

"We're going this way." Kiba was pointing to a completely different direction.

"We all might get killed this time, going into that nobles keep." Tsume glanced at me as he spoke.

"If we're meant to die, then so be it." Was Kiba's only answer.

"When that happens you'll be on your own." Tsume was glaring at Kiba.

"So we're going to find Cheza right?" Toboe asked

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked right back

"Lets go." Hige said while running in the direction Kiba pointed earlier.

The six of us set out on the journey to save Cheza. Night fell and it started to snow. We were still running. It seemed like we had been running for days but, really we had only travelled through the night before the blizzard hit. When it hit we still kept going. Kiba pushed us harder and harder and soon we were left behind.

"Kiba!" Hige called, no reply. He hurried forward to catch up Kiba "Damn it! Will you wait up. Your going to fast, lets take a break."

"We don't have time for that."

"Would you use your head for once! We've got two girls and a little kid with us!"

"Hige we can hear you. Though I do think we should find shelter and wait until the storm blows over." I called.

"You've got to admit she has a point, at this rate none of us will make it. We can take shelter in those rocks until the storm clears." Tsume agreed, pointing to an odd rock formation in the distance.

"That settles it then. Can you guys hang in a little longer?" Hige turned and asked us.

"Just worry about yourself, we'll be fine." Blue replied

Tsume turned towards Kiba, he was reluctant to stop for a break. We all knew why but, we also knew we could go on like this forever. "Lets go" Kiba reluctantly followed us.

The rock formation turned out to be some kind of old building. Toboe and blue sat against the back wall, Hige was near them against one of the sides. Tsume was sitting about ten meters back from the entrance and I sat opposite him. Kiba was standing right at the door.

We were all silent until Tsume spoke "The sun will be up soon, we can rest here until then."

"Come on, we'll be fine" We could all tell Kiba really wanted to go.

"None of us will be fine." Tsume finally snapped

"Do what you want, I'm leaving" Kiba jumped out the door right into the storm.

Toboe got up to follow him "Let him go, right now the only thing he can see is Cheza. It doesn't make any difference if we're with him or not." Hige was right.

"We'll follow him once the storm blows over. For now just get some rest and don't worry about it." Tsume told us.

The storm cleared but the sun still didn't shine. It was hard trying to track Kiba after the storm. The snow had hidden his tracks and the wind had taken away his scent. But still we pressed on, wolves would not give up so easy. We would keep going until we found him.

Soon we saw a castle like thing. Most of it was in ruins but the main structure was still intact. The Darcia family seal was on the gate. This was the place, this was Darcia's keep.

To get inside we had the cross I long bridge thing. I almost tripped a few times because there was no railing to hold on to. We stopped when we saw a car parked just outside the keep. Blue ran strait to it for some reason. "Pops is here." she muttered. Hige asked what was wrong. She just ran off.

We all followed. When we got inside Blue was still hurring. She told Hige and Toboe that her old owner was here.

"But, do really wanna see him?" Toboe asked quietly. They all stopped giving me and Tsume a chance to catch up.

"Well, it might be better if I didn't." She replied

"But, maybe the reason is out here is to find you." Toboe was still very quiet

"So what if he is? Are you going to go back to being that humans dog?" Tsume asked

"Tsume be quiet, you don't know what it's like." Toboe wasn't quiet any more

"Guess I don't, unlike the two of you I've never had the pleasure of being kept as a pet." Tsume snarled.

"Calm down, lets just find Kiba and Cheza and get out of here." I growled

We followed Hige's nose the rest of the way, until we heard a gunshot. We arrived at a grand hall. It was the only place that wasn't ruined. We saw Cheza on the ground and Kiba facing the old man. The hunter was about to shoot. Blue jumped in the way and the man put his gun down.

It was then a noticed Darcia and another girl in the room. The blond woman was there to and some guy I had never seen before.

Suddenly the girl cried out and a laser shot into the room. Kiba went after Cheza but another laser shot in between them. The ground the Cheza was on was suddenly raised far above us. The hunter, the woman and the man ran out another door with Cheza, we had come all this way just to lose her to three humans! This day just got better and better...

Darcia was on the other side of the room looking down at something, it looked like a woman but I couldn't be sure. He picked it up just as the window in front of him broke.

Walls were falling all around us, Blue went missing, I couldn't see her anywhere. We had to run, we had to leave Blue and Cheza behind. While we were escaping Kiba ran off. We figured he would catch up with us later so we just kept running.

There was a blinding white light a everything disappeared.

We stood outside later just looking at the ruins. Toboe kept calling for Kiba, the rest of us knew it was no use. It was snowing gently, Hige and Toboe were up high, Tsume and I were down low we were all looking in different directions. None of us could see Kiba.


	13. All I ever wanted

I cant remember how long I had been running. All I could remember was that it had been a long time and I hadn't seen any other human or wolf. I thought the dome might be a way to get out of the cold, even if it was riddled with humans.

I was so wrong, it was cold and swarming with those damn humans. It smelled like the sewer ran through the streets, then again half these people probably didn't even know what a toilet was. Why did I come here? I couldn't think of a good reason.

In that damn city you ate rats, trash or that foul stuff humans called food. Why would any wolves live like this? Like a filthy human. It was survival of the fittest in this city. Then again, that rule was applied everywhere in these horrible times.

From the scents I had picked up on my first day here there were at least three other wolves here. Why were they here? From what I could pick up the first had the scent of crows mixed in with his scent, the second was probably a lone wolf from outside the city, I could smell the wilderness scent he left behind, the third had the smell of humans mixed in with it, I couldn't smell anything else about that wolf.

I could sense another wolf here but, I hadn't come across the scent yet. I was sticking to the parts that weren't totally destroyed. Then I decided to see what was out there, in the ruins.

It was colder here than anywhere else inside the dome. This was where the thief's lived, then I caught the scent of the other wolf. This scent was also covered in human stench, I would follow this one. Then I met Tsume and Toboe in the alley.

A few days later we were sneaking out of the city. I was glad to be out, Tsume kept fighting with everyone and we were all getting at each other. But all the same, I was glad to be out, and I wasn't alone this time. I was with Tsume with all his scars and cut throat attitude. Hige with his large appetite. Toboe with his cute naiveness. And then there was Kiba, he was just different, he had a burning need to find paradise.

After many distractions we finally made it to a small town. It was infested with other wolves, we ran into the main pack early on. Tsume and Kiba got into a major fight and they both walked out. I followed Tsume, I confessed my feeling for him after Toboe feel asleep. That was the first night I slept beside Tsume.

Kiba was stupid and got in a fight with the other pack. Hige found us at the station the next morning, we saw how the wolves here survived. It was so cruel.

Hige was stupid enough to get caught by the humans. The packs Alpha helped us rescue him, he took us to the tunnel and said farewell. We were running again. I wasn't sure about the other but, for me it felt different this time.

We were all feeling different but, somehow we were feeling the same as well. It was hard but, it felt like I had my friends with me.

We had been out of town for a few days and we were in a large forest, Kiba started chasing something and he lead us strait to Cheza. The next few day were rough. Toboe, Hige and Kiba trusted Cheza with all their hearts me and Tsume and I were a different story. We didn't trust Cheza, she wasn't a human and she wasn't a wolf, she wasn't even a flower.

Sure she was beautiful and she smelled nice but, she talked weird and she made me jealous. I had been here this whole trip and the boys hardly took notice of me, then Cheza showed up and she was all they could see.

But I would have to learn to live with her if I wanted to go to paradise, she was going to guide us there. It soon became apparent that she had formed a special bond with Kiba. I couldn't understand it, he was so hotheaded. He would risk his neck without a second thought. Besides there was a huge age difference between them, Kiba looked about eight-teen and Cheza looked four-teen.

Then again, Tsume was around nine-teen and I was only six-teen.

I was just being nice when I let Toboe hold my hand when we walked through the gardens, Tsume didn't have to glare at us.

When we finally left that old castle an old woman showed up and told Cheza about her past. She said a lot of odd things, like telling Cheza she shouldn't come with us.

When Cheza was with us she told really happy, we all had a soft spot for her. No matter how much I didn't want to admit it.

Then came the forest of death, that was a real milestone for me. Trust Tsume to confess his feelings for a girl in a place like that. The cave in there was horrible, all those bugs frightened the hell out of me but, I still helped the others fight them off.

Even before we got out of the forest of death we were happy, we were with Cheza.

When we got to the town something major happened. The first full moon with Cheza. I could still here Kiba's voice in my head "Some things about to happen." and I could still see Cheza spinning around in the water as we ran around her. Most of all I could hear the wolf song that rang through the town that night.

Then that noble came and screwed it all up, we were happy and he came and ruined it. We fought as hard as we could but, we still couldn't even get close to him. In the end there was nothing we could do about it, Cheza went with him to save us. She was gone.

The next morning we met Blue, just our luck that when one girl left another one joined us. This one wasn't as nice as Cheza. She was actually kind of bitchy. But, she was really ok once you got to know her.

I don't know how long we've been travelling or even how long we've been searching for Kiba. Days past and we were still alone.


	14. Dream of an Oasis

"He's gone. Why cant we find him?" Toboe asked

"Listen, we looked for him everywhere we could." Hige answered

"But he, he couldn't be-"

"He's not dead, we would have felt something." I said quietly

Tsume stopped and turned around and stared walking back the way we had come.

"Tsume, where are you going?" Hige asked

"To look for him again." Tsume called back

"What's the point, you wont find anything. I'm telling you even his scent isn't there. I give up, it's hopeless."

"Hige, what's hopeless?" I asked

"Paradise, I dont give a damn any more."

"What are you saying?" Tsume asked

"I'm saying count me out."

"You cant be serious!" Toboe yelled

"I was never really interested in going in the first place."

"But, Hige your the one who kept us going when we felt down." I felt so betrayed right now, my emotions were running rampant. Tsume was the only thing holding me down. He was the rock and I was the sea.

"If I had never met him, none of this would have ever happened to me." Hige was just being a jerk.

"Your right, if he hadn't shown up in the city I doubt any of us would have left. We probably could have spent our whole lives there without to much trouble." Tsume wasn't always right, I would have left.

"Things were a lot easier, that's for sure." Hige was wrong as well, not everything was easy.

"Yeah, and we were pathetic."

"Guys, cut it out" Toboe whimpered "isn't it bad enough that out bodies have been totally wrecked?" He looked up at the sky "Why does everybody have to fight about everything and steal from each other all the time? I mean it's a big enough world, why cant we share it? Wolves and humans and birds and flowers, living together as equals. If we all got to paradise that's how it would be, wouldn't it?"

"I don't know Runt but, we can only hope." That's what paradise might be like but, we wouldn't know until we got there.

We sat still and quiet until Toboe caught a scent, we followed it down into the ditch. It was the old man. "It's him again." Tsume growled.

"His bodies almost frozen." Toboe knelt beside him

"Just leave him. It's what he deserves" Everyone could tell Hige was in a bad mood.

"How can you say that knowing who important he is to Blue. If we don't do something he's gunna die." Toboe struck a nerve "We couldn't do anything to save Blue either remember?"

Hige grabbed Toboe's shirt and punched him, he went after him again but, thankfully Tsume grabbed him from behind and pulled him back. I ran over to Toboe "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" He said getting up.

Hige just ignored him "We're looking for Kiba, right? Then lets go." He stalked off.

I started to follow Tsume "Larka?"

I turned to face him "Just catch up later." I nodded then followed Tsume and Hige.

"Fact of the matter is, where do we look for him? Do we go back to the keep or go past those huge mountains and look for him there?" Hige had been ranting about the same thing for what felt like hours.

Finally Tsume changed the subject "I had no idea you were so worried about that Blue chick."

"What do you mean? I havent said a word about her."

"It's because you haven't said anything, that proves your worried." I was just going to stay out of this topic.

"It's not like that."

Tsume came to a sudden halt and pulled us back against canyon walls. Noble's airships flew overhead.

We heard Toboe howl and ran back the way we had come. We found Toboe on the ground about to be shot at by some people on horses. I thought horses had gone extinct but, people thought the same thing about us wolves.

I went to help Toboe while the others held the men down "Are you one of Jagara's flunkies? Why is she after us? What the hell does she want?" Tsume was almost yelling at the poor man while holding a knife up to his throat.

"Jagara?"

"She's capturing wolves and I want to know why!" Tsume was yelling now.

The man just laughed, did he hit his head or something? "If your wolves you should have just said so." the man finally got out.

"Sorry about that, you see some of out friends were attacked last night and we just assumed it was you." The man told us on the way back to his village. "Well, here we are." He said pointing to a bunch of teepees.

When we got into the village we saw a wonderful site, there were kids jumping about and laughing and there were horse just roaming freely. "We live together by treating everything as equally as the next, horses, dogs and humans." The man told us.

He went over and talked to some children who were looking after a dog. They ran off giggling after awhile.

"Is he one of your friends who was attacked?" Tsume asked

"I don't know if they were poachers or what, they just hurt the dogs and left. This one kept fighting until the very end."

"We know who might have done this," Tsume turned to us "that old human."

"But, he couldn't have. He was half frozen."

"Toboe's right besides, that guy knows the difference between a wolf and a dog." I hated it when Tsume assumed something

"Why are you guys trying so hard to protect that geezer?" Hige had changed since we lost Blue and Kiba.

"He was talking in his sleep he said, Blue i'm so sorry." Toboe didnt even look at him

Hige could see that it was pointless to argue or maybe he just didn't want to talk about Blue "Maybe if they mistook the dogs for wolves,"

"Jargara then?" Tsume finished

"She might be killing anything she can get her hands on, even if it only looks like a wolf." You could tell Hige was trying to avoid talking about Blue.

Tsume changed the subject again "You said you believed in wolves, what did you mean by that?"

"I said what I meant, wolves are the ancestors of every human being, except the nobles of course."

"Eek," We turned around to see who had spoken, it was an old woman she was very short. Even Toboe was taller than her and Tsume toward above her. In a way, it was funny to look at the height difference. "Bring along our guests, wont you?"

That night we went to the elders tent, she sat us around the fire and told us a story

"Long ago back when man was still an animal, there were evil beasts who ravaged this world. Mother earth opened the gates to paradise and set the wolves upon the land. The wolves fought bravely against the evil and vanquished the monsters. To the ignorant man beasts that remained, they taught many things, and from part of their own bodies the wolves created humanity. This tale has been passed on in out tribe since ancient times."

"You mean humans were created from wolves?" Toboe asked

"Yes little one, back when the world was young as you are now. When the wolves seek out paradise this world will come to and end or, perhaps the world will end because of their search, as they make their way home. It is unclear which will happen first. Regardless, when the wolves find it everything in the world will cease to be. Who first began this search?" The elder asked, "Was it you?" She looked at Toboe

"Was it my idea? No sir."

"Was it you?" She looked at Hige

"Not likely."

"You perhaps?" She looked at Tsume. He just shook his head.

Finally she looked at me "You then?"

"No miss. Kiba went missing."

That night we slept out by the fire in our wolf forms. We had a talk the next morning and decided that we should keep trying to find Kiba. Toboe was very quiet, he had been since we got here.

We walked to Eek, he was tending to his horse "Eek, it's time for us to take off." Tsume told him

"Already?"

"We're looking for a friend of ours but, we cant seem to pick up his scent. Do you know what lies beyond those mountains?" The rest of us stayed quiet and let Tsume do the talking.

"A dangerous land, no one goes there."

"So it's a place that no one would be able to find."

"Lets go"

"Beyond those rocks is a place called the deserts bones." Eek told us as we walked

"Why the deserts bones?" Tsume asked

"The earth is so parched even the sand has left it. But it is said whoever wanders in experiences true happiness."

"Why the hell would you find happiness in a desert?" I wasn't sure if Hige's question was rhetorical or not.

"The spirits of the land tell us there's a giant patch of grass that's been growing there for thousands of years, it guides anyone who rests beneath it to the garden of eternity." I started to imagine the garden. It felt like even though I knew nothing about it I somehow knew everything.

"Why don't all of you stay here and live with our tribe?" Eek asked

"I'm afraid we cant do that, see our friend is the one who is looking for paradise. See you 'round." Tsume started to walk away, I followed immediately. For some reason I was suddenly afraid that I would lose him to. I made I vow that no matter how bad it got I would stay with Tsume, no matter how injured I would go to him, and no matter how far the journey I would travel it.

I followed after Tsume until I realized there were only three pairs of footsteps. Toboe wasn't following. I stopped and turned around to face him.

"I'm... not going." The others stopped and turned around to. "I- I wanna stay here." We all just stared at him.


	15. Scent of a Trap

Toboe's words repeated in my mind, I didn't want him to be left behind but, it was his choice. But, the journey wouldn't feel right without the runt.

Hige looked hurt and Tsume showed no emotion, he rarely did unless it was just me and him.

Tsume spoke first "So you wanna stay here, huh? Does that mean you don't want to be with us any more?"

"Yeah," Toboe took a few seconds before speaking again "theres something about this place, how Eek and his people live. Thats paradise to me."

"Are you sure?" Toboe didn't answer "Toboe, is this what you want?" Still no answer "Well if that's what you've decided then it's okay with me kid." Tsume turned around and kept walking "Take care of your self." He called back. Hige finally snapped out of it and started following Tsume.

I quickly ran back to Toboe "You'll be missed," I lifted his head and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then I ran to catch up. I still couldn't believe Toboe had left us.

We walked across the desert in silence. Tears streamed down my cheeks. Until Tsume spoke "Since the day I met him, that kid's wanted to be with humans. The runt's always had a soft spot for them."

"I guess that was pretty obvious."

"Didn't you say you had given up on paradise to? Don't feel like you have to tag along for my sake."

"You'd keep going? Even if you had to do it alone?"

I had stayed quiet until Tsume's next words "Almost. I dont think I could keep going if I didn't have Larka with me. Everyone else could desert me and I would survive but, if she left I don't thing I could get past the first day."

"Tsume what are you saying?" I smiled, I hadn't done that since before Darcia's keep. It felt good. But what was with this sudden affection Tsume was showing?

"I'm saying that I love you." I was not expecting that, and why would he say it in front of Hige? He hated Hige.

"Tsume, I love you to." I looked into his eyes and deep inside I knew it was true. Maybe he was saying this because he was afraid I would walk away like Toboe had. Or go missing like Kiba.

"When did you start talking like that Tsume?" Hige asked from behind us, I had almost forgotten he was here. Then the moment was over.

"None of your business." Tsume snapped and kept walking. Stupid Hige.

We reached the top of the hill and looked down at the sight. It was sand, as far as the eye could see. This was going to be a long day. I spotted a small black dot that looked like a bush or something, then a car appeared. It was black and looked like one of Jagara's.

We sprinted towards the bush, trying to make it before they did. There were three human there, for now. One of them was in heavy battle armour and the others were in the usual gear. We went wolf and attacked, Hige took out the one that was standing, Tsume went for the one in heavy armour and I circled around and got the one that was crouching down.

Another started shooting at us from the truck but, an arrow hit his neck. Eek was here with Toboe. Moments later the heavily armoured man collapsed. I went to check the truck, just to make sure there were no men left. The others were occupied with something in the bushes.

I went around to the boot to make sure no more were going to climb out and shoot us. I saw something interesting right at the back. I climbed in to see what it was, I could only see one shiny corner the rest was covered by a dark cloth. The doors shut suddenly and the car started driving away, "Tsume!" I howled. I could here him and the others yelling but, the truck was going full speed and they couldn't catch up. I had been caught. Caught by humans.


	16. Sleepless nights

I don't know how long its been. I don't know how much I trashed against the walls or how many hours I have spent howling, barking and clawing at the doors. All I know is that I want out. I was stupid, I was so stupid. Why didn't I check the front seat before climbing in here? Why hadn't we stopped? Where was the rest of my pack? Would they come for me?

My mind was swimming with questions. But one question came up over and over again, where were they taking me.

The truck I was in came to a sudden stop. The door was flung open and I gun was fired at me, it was one of the guns that pushes you back. My body was thrown against the back wall and I fell unconscious as my head hit the floor.

I woke up in a prison cell, my head was pounding and I could feel blood on my neck. How long had I been out? I was so thirsty. There was no water or food in my cell.

I heard voices coming from the corridor "This ones coat would be perfect in your collection milady." It was a males voice, a female answered him "Is it a male or a female?"

"It's a female and she's in good health apart from a small head injury she acquired when they knocked her out." Why were they talking about me? What was the collection that had been mentioned before? "Hello?" I called in the direction of the voices, "Please, I need water."

"It would appear that she is awake." The male voice said.

"Show her to me." The female commanded

Footsteps came closer and I held my head high showing my wolfs pride. The man and woman came into view, the man looked like a guard of some sort but, the woman looked so different. She wore a helmet that was covered in spikes and her hair was covered up by something purple, she was wearing a cloak that had spikes coming out of the shoulders.

The woman frowned a little "How old is she? You know I don't like them if their to small, they look out of place with the rest of them."

The man pointed his gun at me "Wolf, how old are you?"

"My name is Larka and I'm six-teen." I growled, it was probably best not to lie to them. I would probably get beaten for it.

"I did ask for your name idiot." He shot twice at my feat, I growled at him.

"Leave her, I want her pelt clean and ready to be put on display. She will be put into the collection in ten days, is that clear?" The woman spoke calmly to the man.

"Yes milady." He bowed to her before she left. "Enjoy your last days, mutt." He smirked at me before leaving as well.

For the first time in years I cried, it wasn't just a few tears it was really crying. I cried until a couldn't cry any more. I cried for many things. I cried about not being able to find Kiba, I cried for Toboe leaving us, I cried for losing Cheza and cried because I missed Hige. Last of all I cried for Tsume, I was so glad he had told me he loved me before I was taken.

When I had finished crying I heard a voice "There there, deary. Everything is going to be okay." It was an old woman's voice. She sounded nice. She told me her name was Aderes, she was my only companion. I learnt that she was a wolf as well and that Jagara had killed all of her pack. We were both alone but, together at the same time.

"Do you have a pack or, were they killed?" She asked me on my second day

"Yeah, I have a pack and a mate. I know their still alive, I would feel if they weren't." I was pretty much speaking to the wall, she was in the cell to the left of mine. Something else happened on my second day. The head wolf hunter came in and provoked me, eventually I tried to attack him. If the bars weren't there he would have been dead by now.

He beat me for it, he broke my arm and I was extremely bruised up. He and I both knew I would heal by the time Jagara summoned me for the execution. My fur would be back to it usual state and I would be healthy again.

They gave me scraps of food and a little water each day. By scraps I mean scraps, potato peelings, rotten meat, rice, there was a lot of gross stuff in my food but, I ate it anyway. I wasn't expecting any gourmet meals.

By the fifth day my arm had healed completely and as I had expected my fur was back to it usual state. On this day I man was bought in and put in the cell to Aderes right, but the man wasn't even a wolf. Wait a minute! That was the man from Darcia's keep. He was one of the ones who took Cheza from us.

Did that mean Cheza was here to? He still smelled of flowers, that had to mean he had been near her recently. Aderes and I heard him wake up "You smell nice." She called

"Hello, is there someone there or am I hearing things?" He called

"You aren't hearing things." I called back "There are two of us here, Aderes is next to you and I'm on the other side of her. I'm Larka by the way." I almost had to yell because humans ears are weaker than ours. When it was just me and Aderes we could talk in whispers an still hear each other.

"My name is Hubb."

"How did you end up here?" She had asked me the same question.

"If I started from the beginning it would take to long to tell."

"Then shorten it."

"Well I was bought here" He started sneezing "I was bought here from Darcia's keep."

"You took Cheza, you should have given her to us." I called

"Who are you?" Hubb asked

"Do you remember in the keep, there was a girl with long black hair standing next to a man dressed in leather?"

"Yeah, they were with three other boys as well."

"I know, I am that girl. The man I was with is my mate, Tsume."

"What on earth are you doing in a place like this?" Hubb asked us

"I guess you could call it tressen, Jagara had detested our kind for generations." Aderes spoke for me.

"What do you mean your kind?"

"To her we've always been a terrible nuisance."

"You two cant be the only ones here, where are the others?"

"They've all been taken away."


	17. Moonlight Crucible

The fifth day passed slowly, I got another beating but, they didn't break any bones this time. Hubb kept questioning us, it was mainly Aderes answering but I dived in every now and then. Whenever I tried to answer a question they would shush me and tell me to rest.

I found it hard to sleep here, it was cold and I had been sleeping next to Tsume for so long I was finding it hard to sleep without him. I would sleep for a few hours and then wake from another nightmare. Hubb and Aderes would calm me down, I was embarrassed about it. I was the only one who had nightmares.

Days past and I grew more and more worried. Would my pack find me in time? How were they? Were they safe? Had they found Kiba? So many questions, my head was reeling. It had gotten to the point where Aderes and Hubb could only do so much.

It was the eighth day that everything happened, and I felt it. I couldn't figure out what it was but, it was something. For the first time in days I felt like my pack was near me. But it also felt like they were split up, we were together but, not together. I don't know how that works.

I think Hubb felt it to, even if he was just a human. We were both very quiet and Aderes seemed to sense that we weren't in the mood to talk. It was a quiet day in hell.

It was about mid-afternoon when my best daydream and my worst nightmare came to life. It was the same thing really Tsume was thrown into the cell that was diagonal to mine. I could see him a and talk to him.

"Tsume!" I yelled across to him. Was it really him or was it just another dream?

"Larka!" he yelled, he started banging against the bars.

"Don't do that! They beat me for doing that. Besides in wont work, these cages are built to keep a wolf."

"They beat you? I'll kill them!" He just banged harder

"Stop that. Your hurting your self for no reason, they all tried to get out that way. But it was useless." Aderes backed me up.

"Who's they?" Tsume asked, he had stopped banging.

"They captured my entire pack and bought us back to this place. There were many other who were caught to." I had heard her story before so I went back to counting the bloodstains and bullet holes. There were thirteen blood stains and twenty nine bullet holes in my cell. Just when I finished two guards came in.

They dumped Toboe in the cell next to Tsume's and shot Aderes. They dragged her out by the leg "Aderes!" she had been my only companion for my first days here, she had become as close as a grandmother even though I had never seen her face.

One of them kept dragging her and the other stopped in front of my cage, "Good news mutt. Lady Jagara has decided to add you to her collection early."

I could hear Toboe and Tsume yelling and banging against the bars.

"Tsume, I love you forever. Toboe you were always my favourite little pup." I said as the men dragged me away.

I walked with them willingly but, they still kept a tight grip on my arms.

They took me to the grand hall but, Lady Jagara hadn't arrived yet. They tied me up and forced me to wait. From what I could hear and see there was a big celebration tonight. Jagara was going to try and open paradise but, first she would finish her collection of wolf pelts, all she needed was the red wolf. That was where I came in.

The nobles airships started to arrive. I could smell them before they entered. I was forced to sit at the back of the room, Cheza was in the middle in a big glass bubble, it was filled with water or something. The people were dressed in cloaks and they all wore masks.

I had always dreamt of going to a masquerade, not like this though. Lady Jagara entered the room and they all fell silent. She wore a white cloak two spikes out of each shoulder and her helmet that concealed her hair.

Cheza started to sing. It was so sad. I could her so clearly because I was so close. I was scared, I was scared to die. I felt like I had so much left to live for. I had never been a mother, I had never really spent time with the one I loved. As much as I didn't want to admit it I was still a virgin. I couldn't die yet, or if I did I would die fighting.

I would not give up hope and I would not bend to Jugara's will. Cheza's song faded as Jagara started to speak to the people who had gathered. "Two great things will happen this night. The first and less important one, I will have finally acquired the red wolf pelt. The second, I will open paradise." I started to struggle against the chains that held me down. They wouldn't come off.

They started to dance. Darcia entered and they all fell. There behind him, it was the blonde woman that we kept bumping into. She was Hubb's mate wasn't she? Cher. The way he talked about her was almost the same way I talked about Tsume. Almost, it seemed like he desperately wanted her but couldn't quite reach.

I watched as he slowly moved forward, still chained down at the back of the room, I could not move and I could not speak. I would just have to wait until someone noticed me.

The blonde noticed Cheza and started towards her, Darcia took off his mask and Jagara took off hers. It couldn't be! Her face and hair were identical to the one of the body Darcia was holding when I saw him last. Wait, how was Darcia alive? This was all to confusing for me.

"I never imagined I would look upon that face again in my lifetime." Darcia spoke

"The counterparts of your beloved mate."

"Shes your younger sister as I recall."

"You know it as well as I, that her soul was lost ever since that day. But you were the only one unwilling to face the truth. So I released you from that heavy burden. I did it all for you my beloved." I could sense Darcia's wolf eye watching me at the back of the hall as Jagara talked.

"Yes, we were only alike in face and body. If Hamona was light then I was shadow. I was content with that, and then you appeared and trust us into turmoil. The unrivalled instigator, Darcia the third. You bought it all upon yourself." She extended a hand to him "Come, let us dance."

The lights were starting to flicker and my vision was becoming blurry from struggling so hard to get out of my chains. Sweat was pouring into my eyes now, I lost my vision completely for a few seconds, my eyes stung like hell.

I heard I howl ringing through the keep, it was Kiba. He was alive after all.

I saw the nobles paradise, it wasn't paradise. We came back to reality and I was still on the ground. I was slowly losing conciousness. I had hardly eaten or drank anything in about a week and I had used up all of my energy.


	18. Shed some Light

I heard a yelp of pained and snapped back to the present. Hige was on the ground in a pool of blood with a large sword sticking out of him. My mouth could barely mouth because of the muzzle they put on me "Hige..." I was extremely quiet.

Tsume and Toboe stood at the doorway. Toboe looked around the hall and saw me laying there helpless. "Tsume..." He muttered and pointed to me. Tsume ran to me and Toboe ran to help Hige. Tsume ripped the muzzle off. "Tsume" He ripped at the chains next. "Thank you"

We stood up and saw a white wolf at the door way, Kiba was here. "Paradise is ours, we're taking it back!" He yelled before lunging at Jagara. As he jumped she pulled out another sword and swung it at him.

Tsume and I walked over to Hige. Well Tsume walked and carried me, I was to weak to walk. The most I could do was stand, Hige couldn't even do that. Tsume put me down and ripped the sword out of Hige. The poor guy still tried to stand.

"I have to, I promised, to make things right."

"Hige" Toboe cried

"That's enough!" Tsume yelled at him.

"I gave my word to Blue"

I looked up when Jagara cast some sort of spell around Kiba. He just stood there for a moment before putting one foot forward, then another until he was out of her circle. Before I knew it Hige was diving for Jagara. Kiba attacked strait after, while she was still defenceless.

But after all of that it was Darcia who made the final blow, he stabbed a sword right through her. She was dead, at last. Darcia turned to Kiba "It is as I thought, you truly are the chosen wolf."

"What are you, I have to know. You not a wolf or a noble." I only noticed now that Kiba was covered in scratches

Darcia held out something, in the palm of his hand was a small round stone, it was glowing somehow. "I to was chosen, now I understand, it is not merely that we search for paradise" He closed he hand and began to walk away "but that paradise is calling for us."

As I stood up again I saw Hubb at the doorway, the blonde woman looked at him and ran over to him just as he started running towards her.

Toboe helped Hige up and Tsume carried me Kiba was also carrying Cheza. I was happy to be out of that horrible place, I was even happier that I was with my pack again. But the happiness did not outweigh the grief.

This world was coming to an end.


	19. Where the soul goes

The city was in ruins, I wasn't sure if it was like this before but, it was nothing more than a heap of crap now. Hige led us to a certain spot but, he looked really sad and disappointed once we got there.

"This was the place, im sure of it. I gave my word to Blue, I promised if she waited here for me I swore I'd make it back to her. No matter what it took."

"Hige, maybe after all that's happened it wasn't safe any more. I'll bet even someone like Blue had to make a run for it." Toboe tried to console him

"Or maybe she didn't believe you would keep your promise."

"Tsume stop it!" My yell was still weak but it worked, Tsume had shut up for now.

Kiba walked up to Hige, he was still holding Cheza. She started to use her healing power things to try and heal Hige "Do not give up on finding paradise, the true paradise is meant for everyone of you." Cheza told him.

"It's okay, you can stop. I'm feeling a lot better now." Even is voice was weak.

"You have to go" Cheza insisted

"Kiba that's enough make her stop." Hige really didnt want help

Kiba pulled her away and took her to Tsume. "Take her."

He pulled Hige up and were on our way, I leaned on Toboe a little, my strength was coming back fast but, I would still need a little help now and again.

We walked out of the city and into the wilderness. It was somehow colder than it had been out here before. There was no more food in the city, it had all been stolen. Not a crumb left. The moonlight didn't help, it was red and we could hardly see it any more because of all the clouds.

Little by little my strength was coming back. By the time we came across blood I was walking by myself. "This is humans blood."

"This is blood from that old man." Toboe whined

"Maybe their out here together, with Blue." Tsume growled" I had a feeling she would go crawling back to her master some day. In the long run shes probably better off." What had happened when I was in Jagara's keep? Toboe seemed older, Hige seemed less like Hige, Kiba's head seemed to have shrunk. Tsume had been cruel.

"That's not for you to decide!" Hige yelled back

"That girl is nothing more than a half breed. Do you honestly think she could make it to paradise with the rest of us." I hated the new Tsume.

I ran over to Hige and knelt by his side, "Hige, I may know better than anyone what you going through. Trust me, it's a lot worse when you cant even try and find them. But I promise you, we will find Blue. We will find her and she will come to paradise with us. The new paradise is meant for everyone." I glared at Tsume but the words were meant for Hige.

"Are we going to keep wasting time with all of these damn distractions?" Tsume asked Kiba. When Kiba didn't answer Tsume walked away. Hige just got up and followed. The rest of us followed and I supported Hige for awhile.

Cheza was back with Kiba and Hige was being supported by Toboe. I walked alone in the middle.

"I saw it, the nobles paradise. But, it was a fake."

"It wasn't the real paradise, just a cheap copy. Paradise is something that must be opened by wolves. There's only one place that can be called paradise." Kiba looked at me like I had grown a second head.

"Larka, you cant have seen it. Only me and the people in the hall saw it."

"Sorry to disappoint but I was there, I was chained down at the back of the room. Jagara was going to kill me for her collection."

We heard a thud behind us as Hige fell. We ran back to him. I looked up and saw a black dot coming over a hill, Hige had seen her to. Blue was here.

That somehow gave him strength, he got up and hobbled as fast as he could towards Blue. It was an amazing sight.

A car followed Blue over the hill. I hated cars and this one looked like the one that had taken me away. Hubb and his mate got out "Hubb! It's so good to see you got out of there in one piece!" I ran over and hugged him. It's not like I loved him but, he was an good friend and we had a special bond.

Tsume, Toboe and Kiba ran beside the truck. The rest of the wolves were in the back and Cher was holding Cheza. I noticed something different about Hubb but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then it hit me "Hey Hubb, you've stopped sneezing." Cher and Hubb spoke for awhile "It's amazing, and the most amazing thing is you. You gave up everything to find me."

"Trust me, he's an amazing man. He kept my hope up in what I thought would be my last days. It was his long speeches about how he would do anything to get you back, I started to believe that love really does exist. Thank you Hubb. If it wasn't for you I would probably be dead."

A few seconds later there was a huge bang in the distance. Everything started shaking and the cars movement became erratic as huge cracks opened up just in front of us. The car finally flipped and skidded to a stop just meters from the cliff. Those of us in the back jumped out and Hubb opened his door and pulled him self out of the wreck.

I heard the ice crack before I saw the car slip and fall with Cher still inside. Hubb turned and started at where the car used to be. I walked to him "Hubb, I'll take Cheza." He handed her to me before going to find a safe way down the cliff.

When we got down we found the car, hanging out of the car was Cher, she looked like a limp doll. Moments later Hubb was on the ground cradling her in his arms. It was a sad site. He started babbling to her and her eyes started to close. When he started shaking her we knew she was dead. He held her close and cried, I had heard him cry before but it was sad really seeing it happen.

In my old pack it was frowned upon when a wolf howled for a humans death. Right now I didn't care, I raised my head and howled, none of the others joined me. I didn't think they would. I howled long and hard as Hubb lowered her body into the freezing water.

I didn't care about how the others looked at me right now, I was sad. Hubb came over and hugged me, I put my wolf head on his shoulder and comforted him. It was so sad to see a man broken like this.

After awhile he stood up and walked to the car, he put his hands on it and started to push. Kiba soon joined him but, even with a wolfs strength that car wasn't moving. Tsume walked over and Toboe and Hige followed. To car was starting to move.

Finally it tipped, Hubb was puffing but the others looked fine. I was so pleased to hear that Hubb was coming with us.


	20. Shooting the moon

The car had started and we were on the road again. Tsume, Toboe and Kiba were still running, The only difference was that this time I was running with them. Cheza sat in the front seat alone and Hige, Blue and Quent were in the back, Hubb was driving.

They stopped the car for some reason, we ran around to see what was wrong. We found Quent gasping for air, his eyes rolled back into his head. Cheza and Hubb did CPR and he stared to breath again. Cheza collapsed but Blue caught her before she hit the floor.

I sat on the bonnet of the car, we were resting here. Hubb was trying to start a fire but, his lighter wouldn't work. I was on the bonnet because it was warmer than the rest of the car, the engine had been working for hours meaning the metal above it would be warm.

I wasn't listening to the conversation going on behind me, I was lost in my own thoughts. We started moving again soon, Toboe sat in the back this time. Tsume, Kiba and I were still running. Then I realized, Quent and Hubb were the last humans left, they were both male. No more reproduction for the humans.

The time of the humans had come to an end. Now was the time for wolves. I knew somehow that we were the last of our kind but, we could reproduce, as long as Blue and I were still here.

The truck rolled to a stop behind us, no more fuel means no more car. We walked until we got to the base of a mountain. We would spend the night there. Quent still hadn't woken up. Blue stood over him

"He's okay, just sleeping. You may as well try and get some rest to." Hubb said from his spot on the other side of Quent.

"How do you think pops is going to react, when he wakes up and sees all of us?" Blue asked

"I don't think he'll have any hard feelings. He can let go of all that rage now, thanks to you." Just when Hubb had finished talking Quent started to stir.

Everyone became more alert, Blue told him about us going to paradise. He got up and shoved her away "They wanna go to paradise together, huh? What a nightmare, if this is what's really happening then you should have let me die." Tsume was right, the old man didn't want to go to paradise.

"What's wrong with you? Do you have the slightest idea how worried blue was about you?" Toboe yelled after him "I know how much you wanna be with her, why are you acting like this?"

"Shut up! Blue your not my dog any more." Hubb got up and followed him.

Blue walked away to, Hige followed soon after. Tsume beckoned me over behind a rock formation that was still close to our camp site back, far enough away that we wouldn't be heard or seen.

"Larka, I'm sorry we haven't spoken properly since I got you back, and I'm sorry I've been such a jerk to everyone." Tsume would only ever apologise to me, he closed up around everyone else.

"It's okay but, why is everyone acting to different? Toboe's grown up, Kiba's less pig headed and Hige's just not acting like Hige." I looked into his golden eyes searching for answers.

"Kiba found a false paradise, Toboe killed a walrus, pretty much by himself and I may have said some things that may have scared the others into running as fast as we could to get to the city and Hige got his memory back." What did Tsume mean by 'got his memory back?' Before I had the chance to ask we felt an airship approaching.

It didn't matter he could explain later. We ran back to the others just as a laser shot out and hit something far in the distance. There was a massive explosion and everything went bright. Before we could do anything a huge amount of snow blew right into us creating a large storm.

Kiba stay with Cheza and Larka, are go find Hige and Blue, the humans are up to you Toboe. Toboe ran into the snow but Tsume didn't go anywhere. "You felt it to?" Kiba was talking to Tsume

"I felt it early on in Jagara's keep. At first I thought he planned to leave us after we got there. But this started long before he got his memory back."

"What are you two talking about? If you hadn't noticed I was locked up for eight days." They didn't listen to me.

"I know all about betrayal" Tsume continued

"But, he didn't betray us. You know that."

"But when it's all said and done he was trying to fool us up until the very end. After all this he still couldn't tell us the truth." Those two were annoying me, when it seemed they were ignoring me I ignored them right back.

Eventually we were just sitting there in silence, until we heard the gunshot. We heard another one a few seconds after the first.


	21. Dont stop dancing

The shots came from the direction Toboe and the humans went. I ran as fast as I could towards Toboe. Tsume and I reached him first. I saw the trail of blood, it led strait to Toboe and Quent. Toboe's back and chest were covered in blood, the old guy had been shot as well.

"Toboe..." He was my best friend, we had stuck together almost all of the way here. Now he was gone. I remembered all the fun we had together, all the laughs we had shared. He was the one who really deserved to go to paradise. "Don't leave me."

I put my hand on his head, his skin was cold already but it hadn't frozen yet. Kiba ran away when the wind started up again. Blue and Hige still weren't here. Hubb wasn't here either, was that where Kiba went?

I moved away so Cheza could pet Toboe. He seemed so peaceful here, in the arms of a human. The very human who had been trying to kill us this whole time. Cheza and I cried Tsume just sat there staring at the body. I sat down next to Tsume and put my head on his shoulder.

Since the day I met him Toboe was like a little brother to me. The pack was like a family. A very dysfunctional family. We protected each other like families should.

My thoughts were broken as Blue and Hige arrived at the scene "Toboe!" "Pops!" They stopped a few meters from the bodies, Blue stepped forward first "He cant be." Hige followed soon after "How did this happen?" Like the rest of us their voices were barely more than whispers.

Hubb and Kiba arrived back a few minutes later. Hubb stumbled toward the bodies of our fallen friends "Oh please no..."

Kiba spoke for the first time since finding the bodies "Toboe" he whispered patting his head. Kiba started the wolf song, Cheza sung with us in her own way. It was beautiful, it was a perfect way to send him off.

It was getting dark when Kiba finally spoke again, "We have to keep moving, he's still out there looking for paradise."

"The tree of all seeds is there on the horizon. It told this one where it is." Cheza was facing a distant mountain.

"There's no time we have to go."

"So what's your plan Porky," Tsume hadn't called us by our nicknames in ages "after coming all this way, what are you going to do? Where are you going to run to this time?"

"I'm not running, I just figured you guys didn't need me any more. I guess you never did."

"None of us is any more vital than the other Hige, nothing is indispensable, not any more." Kiba should have known, nothing was ever indispensable. Not in this dying world.

"Except you. Or paradise cant be opened unless your there. Your the only one of us who can go all the way. Even Tsume must realize that by now."

Blue stood up "I don't care, I'm still going. Even if I'm turned away at the gates of paradise, I'll keep going for as long as I can. So will you" She looked down at Hige "we made a pact to stay together. Stop making excuses, I know you wanna go!"

The ice cracked behind us and the ground started to shake. Kiba held Cheza close to him, I suddenly felt a strong arm around my waist. Hubb stood up, I had nearly forgotten he was with us.

"It's starting to fall apart, even this close to centre." Kiba said when the shaking stopped.

"He's right, we better get moving. You wont have to worry about me, when it starts to look like im slowing you down." He picked up Quent's pistol and checked it for bullets "I'll take care of it myself." He put the gun in his coat "Come on, I wanna see how far I can go to."

"Go on ahead." Tsume's words were meant for everyone but mainly me "I'll catch up, I wanna talk to the runt for awhile."

I waited until they were a good distance away "Dont be to long." I quickly kissed him, it was short but full of love.

I ran to catch up with the rest. We walked in twos Kiba and Cheza were up front, Hige and Blue were in the middle, Hubb and I were right at the back.

The mountain path was hard and long, we started to have trouble breathing a little way up. Part of it was because we were so high up the other reason was that we were exhausted. I wasn't sure about the rest but Hubb and I hadn't had a proper meal in days.

We finally reached a huge tree. The tree of all seeds. "It had been alive all this tim, it has felt the world pain but no longer. It can breath freely now." She put her hand on the tree, it glowed for a moment and lights appeared in the sky "We thank you." The tree went white, as if it were freezing.

Cheza pointed somewhere, "there it is, the first mountain. That is the entrance to paradise."

We began our climb, it was easy enough at first but it got harder. The higher we got the steeper it was. Soon we came to a part that we could jump up but, Hubb was not a wolf "Hey Hubb, do you want some help getting up?" The others had already started to jump.

"No thanks Larka, I wanna see how far I can get on my own." I nodded and started to jump.

It was hard work even for a wolf, I got to a large ledge and took a short break with Hige. He crawled over to the edge to look down at Hubb "Hey mister, are you okay?"

"Dont worry about me, I'll be up there before you know it" I heard Hubb say

"Just a little further is a ledge where you can rest."

Hige came and sat down next to me just as the mountain started to shake. I ran to the edge to see if Hubb was okay. I saw him slip and fall "Hubb!" I screamed.

I went down a little and saw him hanging onto a ledge, Kiba was next to me before I knew it "Don't let go!" He yelled

"So much for the tough talking human, I guess I wont make it to paradise after all. It's to bad. I wanted to see this through with you 'till the end. But, this is as far as I can go. Don't come down. It's okay I'm not afraid of dying." I wanted to go down and help him up but, Kiba held my arm so I couldn't "You wolves will open up the next world for us, I believe that now. More than anything. Larka, thank you for the company. I'll tell Aderes you said hello." Then he let go.

Kiba kept a strong grip on my arm in case I tried to jump down. I wasn't going to. I heard the thud of his body hitting the ground. The human race was no more. Everyone was leaving me.


	22. Wolf's Rain

I did not howl and I did not cry. I would stay strong. I followed Kiba to the ledge where everyone but Tsume waited. I voice called out from behind us "The world where you would go hand in hand with the flower maiden has neither perfect happiness nor joy nor life. This is because it also does not contain perfect sadness nor misery nor death" The wolf who said these words was none other than Darcia.

His fur was black and he had one blue eye and one gold eye. "What lies in waiting is a paradise for wolves alone. The unclean humans are no more."

"Bastard, you killed him. You killed pops." Blue was angry. She moved away from Cheza, who had been leaning against her.

Darcia ignored Blue and started to walk forward. "Cheza come with me, it is time. What I have become has great need of you."

"Don't come any closer. Hige go on ahead, take the girls. Keep them safe."

Darcia laughed and lunged toward Kiba. They leapt up onto a new ledge and began what would be a long and vicious fight. He threw Kiba against a rock and went for Cheza. Hige stepped in his way, as Darcia jumped another black blur flew into him. It was Blue.

He flipped upside down and landed on her. Hige tried to run to her but Darcia shoved him out of the way and went back to Blue. I jumped at him from behind but he threw me off, I screamed when I slipped off the ice of the ledge.

I fell about a quarter of the way down and landed on a small ledge. I heard Cheza screaming, I got up slowly just as Tsume jumped onto my ledge "What are you doing down here?"

"Long story short Darcia appeared and threw me off a ledge. He could have killed someone by now, we have to get back up there." He nodded and jumped, I followed soon after.

When we got to the ledge Blue was on the ground next to Hige. They were still alive but only just. Blue was in a pool of blood and Hige's neck and torso were covered in it "Hige, Blue what happened? Where's Kiba and Cheza?" I yelled

"Hey, you finally made it. Cheza was taken by that freak, Kiba went after him." We ran over to them.

"Don't try to talk!" Tsume yelled.

"Larka, your the last female. I thought it would be me. Could you do me a favour? Please, kill me. I'm in a lot of pain and I know Hige is as well. Please." I nodded and put my jaws around her neck but, before I bit down she stopped breathing. I checked her pulse, she was dead. I was the last female on earth.

I could here Hige begging Tsume to kill him. Tsume struggled with him self then quickly put his jaws around Hige's neck "Lets meet again, next time in paradise." I heard the snap as Tsume bit down. Three of us left. We had lost so many in so little time.

Tsume and I didn't want to leave the others but, to save Kiba and Cheza we would have to keep moving. We climbed in silence. We rounded the corner to find Darcia about to rip Kiba throat open. "Get to Cheza!" Tsume yelled to me as he lunged at Darcia effectively knocking him off.

Kiba got up quickly "Where's Hige?" Tsume just ignored his question. They looked up when they heard a crash, Darcia saw me running to Cheza, she was making her way to the top of the mountain. "Cheza!" Kiba yelled as he started to run after her. Darcia ran towards me and Tsume attacked him. Cheza jumped before Kiba or me could reach her.

I ran as fast as I could towards Tsume and Darcia. Tsume was on his back and Darcia was slamming him against a large rock. I went for his neck just as Tsume rolled away. Darcia turned his head as I lunged, I saw him coming but it was to late to avoid. He grabbed onto my shoulder and slammed me into the ground. Tsume jumped at him again and Darcia moved his head so that Tsume's side was torn apart as he flew past.

When he was dont with Tsume he turned back to me and dug his claws into my neck. It ripped open underneath his claws. I saw Tsume get up again and look down at his side. He sat against a large rock. I used the rest of my strength to drag myself towards him and sit by his side.

I had sworn to be by his side until the very end, here I was. I looked up and saw Darcia jump into the mountain. Kiba was about to do the same when he turned around "Tsume! Larka! Are you alright?" He ran back to us. What I stupid question. I could feel my life dripping away.

"He's dead, Hige asked me to put him down. I don't feel like moving around any more." Tsume said as Kiba approached. "Just go, he has to be stopped." Kiba just stared at him

"Kiba, please go. Go stop Darcia." I could barely speak.

"Grab on." Kiba reached down toward Tsume

"Get the hell out of here!" He yelled back, shoving Kiba away. Kiba ran toward the entrance.

"Larka, I love you."

"Tsume, I love you. Please never forget that."

"Lets meet again next time in paradise." His head fell onto my lap. I stroked his hair as I relived the main events of my life.

My eyes and ears opening, I could see and hear my parents for the first time. My first hunt, I was so proud of the deer I had taken down. My fathers death, I was so sad, I had run away for two weeks before returning. I remembered leaving the pack, my mother trying to stop me. I had left in the middle of the night. I never got to say good bye.

In my mind I saw the first time I met Tsume and Toboe and when I met Kiba and Hige. When we met Cheza and Blue, and when I was taken from them. When I was re-united with them. The last things I saw were my friends deaths. Toboe, Hige, Blue. I saw when Kiba jumped, that was the last time I had seen him.

I looked into Tsume's topaz eyes and he looked right back into my emeralds. I saw the light leave his eyes and knew it was time for me to go. I used the last of my energy to send one last howl into the cold night.

I could hear voices calling to me, "Larka come on! Come with us to paradise!" Toboe called

"Come with us!" Hige yelled

"It's only a little further." Blue called softly

"Come on Larka, we'll go to paradise, together." Tsume was calling.

I was slipping away, that's what it felt like. Life was leaving me. But I wasn't afraid. I could feel my life ebbing away little by little. With my partners head on my shoulders I died a quiet death.


End file.
